MP3 for Dummies?

Aquajock

Aquajock

Cathlete
Hello, Sportsfans . . .

Could someone PLEASE explain to this poor bald bonehead how MP3 players work? I am interested in getting a waterproof MP3 player so that I can do personal water and swimming workouts to aerobics music (my favorite music company is Power Music), but I have precisely zero idea how these things work.

How do you put the music on them? Do you buy individual songs from a website and download them onto the thing? Do you transfer your CD music onto your computer and then onto the thing? Do you sprinkle monkey dust on the contraption and hope for the best?

Please, please give me a simple, gibberish-free explanation of how you work these things.

Yours in torment -

A-Jock
 
Simple...you tell DH which song you like, they magically appear on the little device (almost as though it had been sprinkled with monkey dust, ut I assure you, that is just DH's cracker crumbs)!

Now, mine didn't come with a DH, I already had one at home. I just had to purchase an adaptor so that everything was compatable (a beer and turned on the baseball game). If you don't already have a DH, don't get one just for this...they are often more trouble than they are worth...or so it feels;)

SERIOUSLY, I transfer songs from my CD's and download from the internet. I know the ladies here can tell you were to get the downloads. My DH would tell you but he is NEVER on this forum.
 
Imafitnessfreak - tell me more, tell me more. . .

What sort of adaptor did you get? Was this so that you can transfer songs from your CDs, or download from the Internet, or both? I'm encouraged that you can do the CD thing, because I have a ton of Power Music aerobics CDs that I really love.

Keep the answers coming, my phriends . . .

Thanks!

A-Jock
 
Your mp3 player should come with software. They are different.Mine you rip the cd's on to like media player then transfer them.
It depends on the player you get. I have a creative.Alot cheaper than ipod. Waterproof?I would have to do a search to see which ones are. If they make one.
Anne
 
I just went throught this too - thought I considered myself technically savvy until I got my MP3 player. It's pretty simple, but until you figure it all out it's kind of overwhelming at first!

One thing - the earphones that come with them are usually very uncomfortable. I bought the iRiver MP3 player and couldn't keep them in my ears. I spent another $50 on a pair of sound isolating earphones with different sized silicone covers for fit and it made a HUGE difference.

What I learned is that you can get music onto the player 3 ways:

1. You can "rip" songs from CDs using a media player (depends on which MP3 player you buy - I used Windows media player) then "sync" the playlist to your MP3 player. The MP3 player will come with software that enables it to talk to your computer.

2. You can also purchase songs or CDs for downloading onto your computer then syncing to your MP3.

3. You can subscribe to a music service like iTunes or Yahoo music or Rhapsody and download as many songs as you like for a monthly subscription fee of around $9.00 - but if you let the subscription go, the music on your computer and MP3 player becomes unplayable, unless you also purchased it for an extra fee (usually about $.99 per song).

I try to avoid shopping at Walmart as much as possible because they're such retail bullies - but I have to say their per-song download prices were the best I found ($.79). Yahoo is also pretty cheap, but I think you have to be subscribed to their service if you want to also purchase songs.

All that said - once you get into it, you will be HOOKED! I love being able to purchase individual songs when I don't necessarily want/need the whole CD. I bought my MP3 player for a long flight (18 hours) I'm taking later this summer - but I've been using it every day since I got it. It's also great for downloading "books on tape" and on some "personal audio devices" you can also download shows/videos etc.


Joni
 
Here's what DH and I did. We downloaded yahoo music jukebox, available for free at yahoo.com. Then he proceded to download all of our cd's onto the jukebox, when you put your cd into the cd burner it will walk you step by step through the process. Then he went out and borrowed hundreds, and I mean hundreds of CD's from buddies and proceded to download all of those as well. So, we now have quite the library of music.
CAUTION!! Do not download from free websites!! Nothing is free on the internet, they all come with a ton of cookies and will slow down your computer and possibly open it up to potential viruses. Itunes is probably the cheapest that there is and has the best selection. If you want to purchase music online.
Everything is very easy to do, the computer will pretty much just walk you through things step by step. You should have a USB port on the front of your computer to connect the MP3, and have windows 2000 or newer.
I absoluetly LOVE my ipod! It's great for running, weights, painting the inside of your home, and you can get ports to be able to listen to them on the sterio.
There is all the info that I have for you. If you have any more questions feel free to email me.

Kathy
 
One thing - the earphones that come with them are usually very uncomfortable. I bought the iRiver MP3 player and couldn't keep them in my ears. I spent another $50 on a pair of sound isolating earphones with different sized silicone covers for fit and it made a HUGE difference.


Joni, what kind of earphones are these? I'm interested. I use duct tape to keep my earbuds and get lots of comments, if you can imagine. What a dork I am.

Jeanette
 
I'm kind of a dummy about this too, although I have no excuse because I've owned MP3 players for years.

My understanding is that if you want to be able to download from the itunes website (is that the name?), you must buy an ipod. Mine is not an ipod, it's a tiny little thing called a Creative MuVo. If you are using a computer with Windows, your puter already has everything you need to transfer songs from your CDs to the Creative. I also occasionally download songs from the Walmart site for 99 cents each. However, the Walmart site does not have as many songs as the itune site. Mine is great, but if I had it to do over again, I think I might get some kind of ipod device so I can use the website because its wide variety of songs.

Does that make sense? Does anyone disagree with me?
-Nancy

ETA: I totally agree that you should replace the earphones. The ones I use on the treadmill are call Koss Portapro and the sound quality is as good as it gets and they are not too expensive. However, I doubt they would be appropriate for water activities. Here they are: http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^pt^PORTAPRO
 
Hey there Annette,

I bought the Oregon Scentific waterproof Mp3 player for my daughter a few months ago from Swimoutlet.com. She loves it...but, had to change earphones, not a big deal. Hope this helps. dmd
 
Hey Jeanette -

The brand I bought was Sennheiser. They were around $50 from B&H Photo - unfortunately they no longer sell the model that I bought, or I'd include a link here. The brand "Shure" earbuds were also recommended when I was shopping around. I can tell you - they're well worth the money. The sound is incredible!

Joni
 
A-jock-there are two types of players. One is the IPOD which only plays songs in AAC format. Then there are the MP3 players-basically all the other brands-which play in MP3 format. So you need to decide if you want to go IPOD and get your songs from Itunes first. Actually I guess FIRST find out if they sell a waterproof IPOD. I like my IPOD and Itunes. You don't need to pay a monthly subscription service. If you are mostly just transferring songs from your CD's onto the computer, and then to the player, it doesn't matter which one you get becuase the software that comes with the player will convert it to the appropriate format. I'm not a real computer geek so I was a bit intimidated at the prospect of learning all this, but the IPOD was very user friendly and seemed relatively easy to set up. I have heard that some MP3 player software is a mess, but I don't know which brand. There was a thread here about 6 months ago on the subject and the responses encouraged me to go the IPOD route. I just got the tiniest shuffle and sync enough music for my planned workout du jour. Yes, the shuffle will play your tracks in order (essential for something like cardio coach) or you can set it to shuffle the songs/tracks. The bigger IPODS have a screen so you can select all your options and songs from it. This would be important if you need to adjust your songs throughout the workout. But if you know exactly what you want to play then with the shuffle you just push play which is what I like. Its so simple. The small shuffle has about 8 hours of songs capacity I think-plenty long for one workout! It has certainly made the elliptical workout a lot more fun and is well worth the money and learning curve!
Beth
 
I have a Dell digital jukebox. I do not think these come in waterproof. Not sure. I started downloading music from music match which is now Yahoo music. I had many problems with the changeover. Now I download from Walmart.com and use media player. I also download from places like cardio coach or Eion Finns Yoga using media player. I guess it is mainly downloading and putting it in your music folder. Then downloading to your device or a cd. Not as hard as I used to think it was.
Diane Sue
http://wd.1ww.us
 
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