WHAT IS…an EmPeeThree (MP3) player?
With the holidays approaching, I thought I’d start a new segment on Witchy Tech entitled “What is…?”
With the best of intentions, you ask your kids and grandkids what they want for Christmas. They reply in gibberish! You have no idea what they are talking about. As they try to explain, your eyes glaze over and you end up getting them a sweater. Well, not this year!!
So.. what IS an MP3 player, anyway? Read on to find out:
The short answer: An MP3 player is the digital age’s version of the “Walkman” personal music player and recorder, or better yet, the transistor radio of the 70’s. It plays back recorded music, or books on tape, and some have radio or video capabilities.
The long answer: A compact disc (CD) holds music files. Like any other computer file, music files can be in various formats. One of those file formats is called “MP3.”
Remember records? Different formats would be LP, long playing, or SP, short playing, for the different sized records.
You can take several CD’s of your favorite music and save their files to your computer, and download them all from your computer onto your little MP3 player.
This is the modern-day equivalent of taking all your records and transferring them to cassette tape so you could carry them with you in your car or while jogging.
The most popular MP3 player these days is the Apple iPod. There are several other brands of players out there that function just as well which do not require the iTunes software to use. If your child or grandchild specifically asks for an iPod, though, that is probably the exact brand that they want. If they say they want an iPod “Nano”, for example, they want an Apple iPod with the “Nano” styling (That is like saying they want a Ford car, Taurus styling… it is a specific request so pay attention to the word they say after “iPod”… definitely go back for clarification on this if you are unsure!)
If your child or grandchild is not specific on the brand, the door is wide open to get a good quality MP3 player. The most important things to compare in MP3 players are memory (how many songs it can hold) and battery life.
- MEMORY: For today’s kids (and adults), less than 1gig of memory is definitely considered sub-standard (unless the child is very young). You can get a decent MP3 player with 2 gigs of memory for very reasonable prices these days.
- BATTERY LIFE: This may be listed on the package as “hours of play” or “battery life” and obviously, the longer, the better. If the player requires AAA or AA batteries, they probably don’t have enough hours of play for today’s kids. Look for players that can use nicad batteries.
Other features which may be included are: Radio, video player, voice recorder, and picture viewer.
These are just the VERY BASICS you need to know to shop for an MP3 player. I hope you found this article helpful!
If you have questions regarding MP3 players in general, or if you have any comments regarding this article, please post them in the comments section of this article.
If there’s something else someone on your gift list is asking for that baffles you, please post your question in our forum.
~Witchy
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