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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2008 - 14:39:01 |
Union of CD and MP3 players
In the gadget arena, the trend now is to produce devices capable of performing multiple functions, sort of like tech versions of the Swiss Army knife. For instance, Kodak just released the mq3, a digital camera that also shoots video and plays digital music, and add-on modules for the Handspring Visor hand-held organizer convert it into a camera or music player. And in the compact disk-player category, a new class of hybrids has emerged the CD/MP3 player.
These combo devices play regular CDs and CDs containing digital music files recorded in the MP3 format that people make using their computers and software. Currently, there are a handful of these dual players on the market. They are perfect for people who enjoy making their own CDs (or have friends who do) and those who do not want to purchase both a CD player and digital music player. CD players that support digital files can hold more than 10 hours of music versus digital music players, which hold only two to four and generally cost less.
Most notable in this new segment is the Rio Volt, the maverick company that debuted the first portable digital music player in 1998. What sets the Volt apart from the pack is that it plays disks recorded in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format besides MP3 files. Because the WMA format takes up less space than MP3, the Rio Volt can play 20 hours of music contained on a single disk, or about 250 songs.
Obviously, navigation is important if you need to find one song out of 250, and fortunately the player has a large LCD screen so you can see your music listings better. The text display shows a song's track number, title, artist and album name and play time. You can also skip ahead 10 tracks using the +10 button on the front of the device.
Other features include a nonskip design, a run-time of about 15 hours on two AA batteries and a very cool "remote" control. The remote is about the size of a silver dollar and clips to your clothing. It allows you to operate the player while it is stashed in a bag or pocket. It also comes with RealJukebox software, which helps you manage the music on your PC (SoundJam is included for Macs) and converts your standard CDs into digital music files. Included in the package is Roxio Easy CD Creator, which lets you record CDs if you have a recordable-ready CD-ROM drive in your computer.
Just remember to compare specifications such as navigational features and supportable formats. Neither of these supports upgrades for future music formats and the expanium shows only track numbers in its navigation.
Now that you're up to speed on CD players that support digital music, you may be wondering where to find it. The music file-swapping service Napster is blocking its copyrighted songs from being transferred now that record companies have sued.
Here are some other sources:
* Gnutella.com
* Audiogalaxy.com
* Mp3.com
* Besonic.com
* Mp3board.com
MP3 SEARCH ENGINES:
* Lycos.com
* Audiovalley.com
* Audiophilez.com
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