Is my gear too basic?

[A.B.]

The Format:
MP3 is a format to store music in digital form. Once music is saved in this format you can play it from the computer, portable player or in dash car stereo that has mp3 playing capabilities.

MP3 compresses the music file sizes dramatically and still maintains a great sound quality comparable to that of music CD. You can compress a whole music CD, which originally contains 650 MB of data, into something like 30 MB. So you can compress say 20 music CD into MP3 and then store them all onto one MP3 CD. Neat don’t you think . If you have a collection of 150 music CD that you want to take along you can compress them into 7 or 8 MP3 CD

A computer is essential in handling MP3 music.

Making MP3 files:
There are free software available to download from the internet that can help you convert your music CDs to MP3. The process is called ripping. It reads your CD and saves the music into MP3 files on your computer.

You can also download almost any music from the web if you have a good Internet connection.

Playing MP3:
You can play MP3 directly from your computer if you prefer but while on the road it would be better to have a dedicated mp3 player.

Every player comes with some sort of cable (sometimes optional) to connect to the computer to download the music to the unit. Once the music in on the unit you can listen to it with headphones or hook it up to the car stereo.

Memory card based players:
These use memory cards to store music. These are great if you’re going jogging or something since the memory cards’ storage is limited. Maybe only an hour or two worth of music can be stored. Not practical for our type of travel.

CD based players:
If you burn your MP3 files on CDs, you can just inset the MP3 CD in one of those players and instantly have access to 20 or so albums. Since your music is already stored on CD you won’t need to upload new music onto the player. Just change the MP3 CD like regular music CD units only each mp3 CD contains so much more music. This is my recommended player in terms of convenience.

Hard disk bases players:
These players contain a small and somewhat large hard disk to store your music on. With a big enough hard disk you can store your entire music collection and never have to upload anything again.
Car MP3 players:
These are regular in-dash car stereos that can handle MP3. They are usually CD or hard disk based.

Hope this helps to get a general idea. Let us know if you need any more help.

Check www.mp3.com for more info.

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A.B.

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