User guide

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• If you don't convert songs off a CD, the songs will go over as an Audio CD and play in media
player when you click on them, and won't work on MP3 players
• If you don’t want portability, you can play audio and music files right from iTunes
• If you use Windows Media Player, version10 is a necessity (as is stated on the Sansa
SanDisk MP3 players
• Can always upgrade headphones so don’t make that a factor when buying
• Consider how much memory you will need - the limiting factor is usually price, but buy as
large a memory as you can afford, but if you only need the space to hold a thousand tunes,
there is no reason to spend the extra money for a 40GB player.
• If you want a player to listen to while at the gym or out on a jog, check out the many
available sports players - usually utilize Flash memory, which is immune to playback
interruptions when jostled, unlike hard-disk systems that don't appreciate being shaken -
sports MP3 players often have handy features such as stopwatches, meters that measure
speed and distance, and even water resistance to protect against sweat and rain. Small and
light enough to be worn just about anywhere, sports MP3 players usually include clips or arm
straps so they can be secured to clothing or the body.
• Digital audio players are available in a multitude of styles, from tiny players that can clip onto
your sunglasses or keychain to (relatively) large units that can store tens of gigabytes of
music and other content. Many players can hold other types of data (in addition to music
files), serving as portable data storage devices.
• Apple's video iPods incorporate a small LCD screen for the display of digital video and
image files. Competing manufacturers are following suit with screen-equipped MP3 players
that can store and play music videos, television shows, and even DivX movies. Other MP3
player options include integrated FM tuners, voice microphones, and line inputs that let
players record directly from other audio sources. Panasonic even combines an MP3 player
with a digital camcorder in some members of its D-Snap line. Quite a few cell phones now
incorporate MP3 players, from: http://products.consumerguide.com/
• Most MP3 players let you expand the built-in memory by adding removable memory cards,
like those used in digital cameras. The advantage of this is that you can create your own
albums of music mixes.
• All the compressed music files now available wouldn't mean much if they took ages to
transfer from your computer to your portable player. Fortunately, we have USB 2.0 and IEEE
1394. USB (Universal Serial Bus) was once considered fast but USB 2.0 is up to 40 times
faster. And yet protocol, IEEE 1394 (called FireWire by Apple and iLink by Sony), is equally
as fast, meaning you can transfer a full hour of music in only 15 or 20 seconds. When
purchasing an MP3 player, check to make sure your computer has the minimum system
requirements needed to work with the player. - check your computer/player compatibility -
• If you plan on listening to music on your PC, don't choose a PC speaker system by wattage
alone: amplifier power is only one of many factors that determine a system's ability to shake
the floor. It's common for systems with smaller amplifiers to play louder and have more bass
than higher-powered units.
• If your PC's sound card offers multi-channel analog line-out jacks (and most do), don't spend
extra money on a speaker system with digital inputs and a Dolby Digital decoder. You can
connect multi-channel speakers directly to your computer's analog audio outputs with
virtually no difference in sound quality.