Mary
El-Beheri, Douglas MacArthur High School(NEISD), retired
Rhoda Auerbach, USPS, retired
MP3 players store and
play files with mp3 extensions. They are related to mpeg files which are compact
movie files. MP3 is the audio layer of mpegs. Layer 3 is one of three coding
schemes for compressing audio signals. It removes all superfluous parts of a
sound signal like the sounds the human ear can't discern. Layer 3 can shrink
the original sound from a CD by a factor of 12 without sacrificing sound quality.
The result is that you can now storemuch smaller files. These files are small
enough to be easily transferred across the Internet. There are many mp3 files
available on the net, some for free. The latest MP3 players are great for use
in the classroom, because you can have everything together in one place, all
organized. You can put the textbook
CDs, music CDs, and special listening CDs on the MP3 player.
MP3 players can be played through your computer with a USB hookup. If you have Windows XP, you don't even need to configure it as new hardware.The operating system detects it and as soon as you attach it, it's ready to play. Use the same hookup to load the MP3 player. The MP3 players come with their own software to load music or files. If the files are CD files (CDA), the software will convert them to mp3 and then transfer them to the MP3 player. When you load, you can organize by album, artist and genre. That way, when you're ready to play back, you can more easily find what you want by looking for the particular album, artist or genre you want. You can also play mp3s through your cassette player with a simple adapter. iPods have adaptors that allowyou to plug into the electrical outlet (cigarette lighter thing) in your car. Different MP3 players have different features, but they are all fairly easy to learn.
Research brands, but be flexible. The iPod is the big name, but not always the best buy. For the classroom a 2-5 GB should be more than enough unless you want to put in tons of stuff. Formats and features vary. Playback can occur straightforward or it can shuffle, i.e. play in random sequence either once through all you have or repeating. There's usually a way to "Select" the tracks you want and then it can play the selected tracks either in order or shuffled.There are some MP3 players called, "Shuffle" which I would avoid since that's all they can do and you can't choose your tracks. This would be inappropriate for a classroom situation. You want to make sure that the player has a pause button, rewind and fast forward.
I believe it is important to have a backlit display screen because we are not teenagers who can see in the dark. It is also good to have a display that will turn off the backlight to save on the battery. Make sure to get a player that has a good rechargeable battery. Before you make your decision, try out the controls; they vary greatly in use. The iPod uses wheels which I find get away from me too easily. I prefer button types which click rather than spin.
Prices range from for as little as $40 for a 256MG up to a 20GB for $200. Or you could find a bargain like I did, 40GB for $179. Remember, you will pay more for an iPod, as much as $500. For that money, you will get video capability, but the screen is small and you might as well just play a video on the computer. Do a little shopping on the Internet or in your Sunday newspaper. Happy Searching!!