Laura Watkins asked:


I remember my first Walkman fondly. I was enthralled by the very notion: portable music. I had no idea at the time, but the Sony Walkman was only the beginning. It would, single-handedly, come to revolutionize the way people listened to music.

On a family trip, everyone could listen to their own music. At the gym, everyone could work out to their favorite tunes. On the bus, at work, at the supermarket, you name the place-people had their Walkmans, and usually, a slew of their favorite cassette tapes as well.

And then there were CDs. Which lead to Discmans. Which recreated the familiar scene of two objects: the music player used to listen to the music, and the device in which the music was stored (in this case, a compact disc).

Nowadays, when I think about CDs, I question the genius involved. Discmans, although a step up in sound quality and technology, are generally bulky and awkward to carry. If you’ve ever used one for any extended period of time (especially if you intended to exercise while using it) you know that it is difficult to secure, all too easy to open, and once again, clumsy and inelegant to wear. CDs themselves are easier to damage and more expensive than cassette tapes. In general, the whole situation makes one wonder who was manning the portable-music-ship at the time.

Ah, finally MP3 players. At last, a device that incorporates both elements (player and music component) needed for portable music, thus eliminating the need to haul your tape/CD cases around with you. Apple’s iPod clearly leads the pack in this category. Now, when looking back at Walkmans and Discmans, their bulk and impracticability are further amplified by the sleek design of most MP3 players. For example, the iPod Shuffle is advertised visually in a way not unlike that of fine jewelry.

What does the future hold for portable music? Considering the evolution thus far, we can gather simply that whatever it brings will be smaller and increasingly easier to use.

All in all, the portability of music was a progressive movement. The digital music of MP3 players has emerged, victorious over the once ubiquitous tape and CD players. Leaders like Apple recognize the value of portable music that lives up to the expectation of true portability: a lightweight and simple, yet elegant design without compromising functionality in the slightest.

Little by little, technology listened to the people, and as a result, it’s now the people that are listening to technology.

Jim Brown asked:


Have you ever tried being stuck on the airport with nothing to do but wait for hours on the terminal? Traveled a long and grueling land trip that you’ve got nothing to do but stare outside. How about needing to go out of the house to run to some errands and cutting the climax of a television series? All that can now be a thing of the past.

With the surge of portable digital music players in the market, jogging can never be as boring as staring at the lawn during a Sunday afternoon. Picking up the tempo when running a fast circuit or toning down the phase can be accompanied with the right music of your choice and it is now possible with a portable digital music player. These skip free solid state gadgets ran the computer electronic world as if it were a stampede. Substituting its predecessor-the bulky and mechanical portable compact disc players, it solved the issue wherein music skips when you’re on to. solve the part where music skips when your on the gotronic world as if it was a stampede.it the right music of your choice.he go. As this changed the way people lived their lives another inevitable thing evolved – the way videos are being viewed. Portable media players became the all in one thing for on the go entertainment.

Portable media players come in different shapes and sizes. The common size for this computer electronic device is just about a pocket book where it fits neatly inside the hand bag or inside a side pocket. But don’t be fooled by these small devices, video and sound resolution for these things can go close to hi definition television and surround sound.

These things commonly come with a built in hard drive and has a removable storage device such as a secure digital card and a removable battery. Features for this media player don’t only limit itself to music and videos. Photographs from digital cameras can be downloaded and viewed here. Other portable media players double as a mass storage device or an external hard disk drive. This feature can be useful for frequent travelers who constantly are in need of storage for computer data and pictures from digital cameras which can be stored instantly.

Designs of the portable media player nowadays are not limited with the pocket book size. It is constantly re-designed to fit and have it incorporated in our day to day lives. These media devices have been made to fit into wrist watches, sunglasses, and players that look like cellular phones.

Ajoy D. Saah asked:

An iPod has become the best selling portable music player. Designed and marketed by Apple Inc., its sale has crossed 140 million pieces. This brand enjoys the market share of more than 60% in portable media players category.

There are many portable media players available in the market. Many big corporations world wide have many such products. Then, what is the reason for such a huge popularity of a single product called ipod?

Ease of use has been cited as the chief reason. An end user finds it difficult to accept a product that is complicated to use. He becomes dissatisfied, distraught and ultimately abandons it. Apple accomplished this factor beautifully. Despite new technologies, an ipod is very easy to use. It gives ample satisfaction to an end user.

iTunes software is required for music downloads from iTunes Store. Both are owned by Apple. Present versions support mac and windows computers. You can download pop music, rock or any type of music. It can play all iTunes Store music and other limited external sources.

An iPod can play mp3, AAc, AIFF and Apple Lossless file format and other limited standard file formats. Music files from Napster and MSN can not be played due to digital rights management issues.

Classic, Nano and Touch are main model line ups. Classic is based on hard drive storage and offer capacities ranging from 20 giga bytes to 160 giga bytes. Nano offers storage ranging from 1 to 8 giga bytes. Latest classic and nano models can play video and image files also. Nano and Touch models are based on Flash memory cards.

It has won many awards as Most Innovative Audio Product, Fourth Best Computer Product and Engineering Excellence. An iPod has become most reputed audio product.

Alden Jerry asked:

Music had always been the heartbeat of human being. It acts as the best stress buster for everyone. Infact, music and living beings have a deep rooted instinctive connection. Even animals, who may not have finer expressive folds on their face or enough creative intelligence, tend to enjoy melodious songs and instrumentals. Due to this instinctive connection, music is one of the oldest invention of mankind. Starting from the ancient classical songs to the present hip-hop and rock mania, music and musical instruments have evolved unbelievably. The latest musical instruments are far more sophisticated and have amazing clarity compared to the age old record players or cassette players. Initially, such instruments were expensive. But, today they are available at competitive prices and cater to a larger mass of middle class people. The Cheap MP3 Players now have become a craze for its cost effectiveness.

The latest MP3 players come in different shapes and sizes. Most of them are very sleek and tiny, so that it is portable and can be easily kept in the pocket. It can be easily used while travelling or jogging. Sometimes even toys can be embedded with a MP3 player, such as-teddy bear MP3, Christmas MP3 and many more. In spite of being available at economical prices, these gadgets have a number of high end technical options which are very impressive for music lovers. These latest MP3 players may have varying storage capacity starting from 500 MB to as much as 32 GB. These cheap MP3 Players include a USB power adaptor, 3 screen protectors, car charger and a silicon case. To ensure high quality audio impact, they are embedded with X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio technology. With a striking look and unparalleled audio effect, the players have become the best choice for music lovers.

Unlike the old classical songs, the latest songs are highly instrumental with modern musical effect. Hence a highly advanced musical instrument with good base and treble effect is required for proper sound effect. The hi tech technology also used to prevent loss of sound quality of the compressed music files. With a breathtaking high depth of field and stereo audio system, it gives realistic feel to it. The sound quality is further enhanced by X-Fi technology. The latest music players have multiple features other than just classy music listening capability. It even helps in wireless transfer of pictures and music from the PC to your player. This player also provides Internet connectivity and assists in chatting through windows live messenger, yahoo messenger and other such sites.

Other than the above facilities, these cheap MP3 Players have high quality speakers with amazing noise reduction capacity. There is no need to look out or attach speakers because, this gadget has a built in speaker with immense clarity. The memory can be enhanced by attaching a memory enhancement card. With this the user store innumerable music files for endless enjoyment. The pictures are well pixelated that make them very sharp. Apart from all these, the sound system supports multiple audio formats like MP3, WMA and AAC including unprotected m4a files from itunes. Therefore, because of its cheap price and multiple functionality, the MP3s have become quite popular among youngsters and adolescents.

Alden Jerry asked:

Music and movies enthrall many of us. To meet the needs of keen music and movie frenzy people, these DVD players act as treasure to their home entertainment. The players have the ability to play discs in both video and audio formats. Moreover, these players also allow the users to watch or listen to music on video CDs and audio CDs, respectively. The users can enjoy videos in almost all the formats including MPEG-4 and ASP. For endless entertainment, these devices need to be connected to a television set.

The portable DVD players are gaining momentum among the people, across the world. These devices are considered as the best alternative for entertainment. As a matter of fact, the amusement is inseparable aspect of our lives, as we constantly need to refresh and relax ourselves to overcome tiredness. Furthermore, it enhances the lifestyle. Among, various innovations in the technology such as computers, laptops, mobile phones and GPS devices, the most popular electronic system is the DVD player. These players provide high-quality pictures and ensure the user’s eye do not get affected during the viewing process.

The DVD players are regarded as the leader among varieties of music players, due to their top quality sound and picture quality. With each passing day, number of manufacturers are venturing into this arena to provide the music and movie lovers an entertaining widget for endless entertainment. Some of the top leading companies that have plunged into this domain are Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, LG and Videocon. With the stiff competition in the market, the users can enable their favorite gadget at affordable price.

These portable devices are selected on the basis of size, weight, playback formats, video or audio outputs, digital surround sound, battery back up, connectivity options as well as warranty period. The player with digital surround sound transports the viewer to a miniature virtual theater environment. To enjoy high quality sound in these players, one should purchase those players which comes with A/V receiver or built-in Dolby Digital decoder.

To streamline the search, one must check the portable dvd players on various Online stores. These Online sites provide the latest information on these gadgets. Moreover, for easy and best purchase, the users can compare the features and prices with other brand to avail top quality players

Olivia Andrews asked:

As the music technology has developed many folds, the outcome of CD players, recorders and mp3 players has become a part of the day to day life of a person. Today, there are many popular mp3 players in the market including pocket sized player that enables you to take your PC audio wherever you go.

Facts about portable Mp3 players

1. Mp3 format has helped in increasing the craze of PC music and this is the reason why most of the Mp3 players handle various file formats such as WAV, AAC or WMA.

2. There are three types of memory used by Mp3 players namely, flash memory, removable or embedded flash memory and the hard drive.

3. Flash memory is rugged and very compact because it has solid state memory and the player cannot skip and therefore these are the best to for active use.

4. Embedded flash memory is built right into the player and is great fro one who is not interested to buy and carry extra memory cards.

5. The last type of mp3 players store music on mini hard disk drive ( a smaller version of your hard disk in your computer) and these can store music much more than the one using flash memory. But these are bulky with large LCD screens and incorporate memory buffers that eliminate skipping.

6. The most expensive Mp3 player won’t work if it could not be connected to your PC. So before you buy one, make sure that it is compatible to your computer connections and capabilities.

7. You need to have a new version of operating system in your PC, a USB port, supply flash card reader and music management software for example jukebox.

8. There are many accessories and features with current Mp3 players and you should know exactly what your player does and what all comes in the box. There are mp3 player that act as recorders and are capable to capture audio and other voice snippets and other radio broadcasts with the help of an inbuilt tuner. There is an LCD display and these come in stylish models in different color, shape and size. Other accessories include ear headphones, rechargeable adapters etc.

9. You can easily download free mp3 song from different websites offering these services.

To know more visit our recommended website freedownloadmp3song.info

Ajoy D. Saah asked:

Want to know which music player is ideal for you? You can get easily confused by variety of music players available – cd player, mp3 music player, ipod, and dvd player.

A compact disc player or popularly known as a cd player is very popular. It can play music and audio files from a compact disc. Time duration of one compact disc is around 75 minutes. You can listen songs upto 75 minutes with one cd. You can listen as many compact discs as you like. It can play mp3 and other standard file formats. Price wise it is very economical.

Portable mp3 music player is also very convenient. It comes with different storing capacities. You can choose the suitable one. Other feature remains same. Can play mp3 and standard music files.

An iPod is a third generation portable memory card based music player. It has become very popular recently. Memory cards are availabe upto 32 giga bytes nowadays. An iPod can typically store much more music or audio files compared to a compact disc. It can play digital music in mp3 and other popular file formats. Earphones are required for listening songs. It is bit costlier but the money spent is worth it.

First generation iPod introduced by Apple Inc. was hard drive based music player. Nowadays, hard drive based music player offers huge storing capacity of 250 giga bytes. Mp3 and standard audio files are supported.

A DVD player can play dvds produced under dvd audio standard. Many modern enhancements are offered along with digital quality of sound. Cost wise it is higher. You can play compact discs also on a dvd player.

I have tried to provide basic information here. I hope, it will be useful to you.

anonymous asked:


iPod is a brand of portable media players that is designed and marketed by Apple and was launched on October 23, 2001. Since October 2004, iPod sales have dominated the market for digital music players in the United States.

Devices in the iPod range are primarily digital music players, designed around a central click wheel although the iPod shuffle has buttons only.

The full-sized model stores media on an internal hard drive, while the smaller iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory. Like many digital audio players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices.

In addition to playing music, iPods with display screens can display calendars, contact information, and text files, and play a limited range of video games. Models introduced in 2004 include the ability to display photos and the fifth-generation iPod, introduced in 2005, can additionally play video files. In January 2007, Apple announced the iPhone, combining the features of a video-capable iPod with integrated mobile phone and mobile internet capabilities.

Apples iTunes software is used for transferring music (as well as photos, videos, games, contacts and calendars, for models that support those features). As a free jukebox application, iTunes stores a comprehensive library of music on the users computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. It can also sync photos and videos.

History and Design:

The iPod came from Apple digital hub strategy, as the company began creating software for the growing market of digital devices being purchased by consumers. While digital cameras, camcorders and organizers had well-established mainstream markets, the company found digital music players lacking in user interface design and decided to develop its own.

The name was proposed by Vinnie Chieco, a freelance copywriter, who (with others) was called by Apple to figure out how to introduce the new player to the public. As soon as Chieco saw a prototype for the player he thought of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and the phrase: “Open the pod bay door, Hal!”, which refers to the white EVA Pods of the Discovery One spaceship. At that time “iPod” was a name that Apple registered for Internet kiosks, but never put to use.

Apple hardware engineering chief Jon Rubinstein assembled a team of engineers to design it, including Tony Fadell, Stan Ng and Jonathan Ive. Additionally, Sparkfactor Design has designed some of the iPod hardware from 2002-2004. They developed the product in less than a year and it was unveiled on October 23, 2001. CEO Steve Jobs announced it as a Mac-compatible product with a 5 GB hard drive that put “1000 songs in your pocket.”

Uncharacteristically, Apple did not develop the iPods software entirely in-house. Instead, Apple began with PortalPlayer reference platform which was based on 2 ARM cores. The platform used rudimentary software running on a commercial microkernel embedded operating system. PortalPlayer had previously been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player with Bluetooth headphones. Apple contracted another company, Pixo, to help design and implement the user interface, under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs.

Once established, Apple continued to refine the software look and feel. Starting with the iPod mini, the Chicago font (once used on early Macintosh computers) was replaced with Espy Sans, which was originally used in eWorld and Copland. Later iPods switched fonts again to Podium Sans, a font similar to Apple corporate font Myriad. The iPods with color displays then adopted some Mac OS X themes like Aqua progress bars, as well as brushed metal in the lock interface.

User interface:

Apple focused its development on the iPod’s unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. The iPod is currently the world’s best-selling range of digital audio players and its worldwide mainstream adoption makes it one of the most popular consumer brands. Some of Apple’s design choices and proprietary actions have, however, led to criticism and legal battles.

The iPods with color displays use high quality anti-aliased graphics and text, with sliding animations. These iPods have five buttons and the newer generations have the buttons integrated into the click wheel an innovation which gives an uncluttered, minimalistic interface.

The buttons are:

Menu to traverse backwards through the menus, and toggle the backlight on older iPods when held

Center to select a menu item

Play / Pause which doubles as an off switch when held

Fast Forward (When held)/ Skip Forward

Fast Reverse (When held)/ Skip Backwards

The operations such as scrolling through menu items and controlling the volume are performed by using the click wheel in a rotational manner. These iPods also have a Hold switch at the top, which prevents accidental button presses.

Newer iPods automatically pause playback when the headphones are unplugged from the headphone jack, but playback does not resume when the headphones are re-inserted.

However, in newer iPods (excluding iPod shuffles), when the headphones are re-inserted into the headphone jack when the iPod is asleep, the iPod will automatically wake up to the last screen viewed before going to sleep. An iPod that has crashed or frozen can be reset by switching ‘Hold’ on then off, then holding Menu and Center (Menu and Play on the 3G iPod) for 6 seconds.

The iPod shuffle does not use a click wheel and instead has five buttons positioned differently to the larger models. It has a Play / Pause button in the center, surrounded by four buttons: Volume Up / Down and Skip Forward / Backwards. This button arrangement is shared by the Apple Remote (which ships with all Apple computers with Front Row and the Universal Dock).

Ray La Foy asked:


As the portable music industry really kicks off, there is some confusion surrounding this new format. Piracy concerns top the list for record labels and consumers find themselves a little unsure what’s legal and what’s not.

Let’s look at some of the basic questions about portable music and the answers to help you steer clear of piracy concerns:

What is portable music?

Technically this is anything that can be listened to on the go. Whether it’s a CD in a CD player or an MP3 in a download device, if you can take it with you, it’s portable. The most common definition of this today, however, is the download format, or MP3.

Where do you get portable music?

There are a variety of legal download sites on the Internet. Specialty companies, music labels and even big-name department stores offer music for purchase by the song or by the album over an Internet connection. There are even gift cards available for portable music downloads so friends can buy their own choices of songs.

How can you tell a site is legal?

Reputable sites that offer portable music downloads have licensing agreements with the record labels. This means that for each song that’s downloaded the correct labels and artists will get their cut of the royalties. If a site offers copyrighted music for free, it’s very likely the downloads are not legal. There are, however, lots of songs in the public domain, which means their download is free and legal. If you’re unsure, check into a site’s background before making the downloads.

Can you really get caught?

Yes. Illegal sites are being shut down all the time and music labels are tracking downloads from the sites via IP addresses. This means it is possible for a record company to track who has illegal downloads and who doesn’t. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll prosecute everyone who makes an illegal download, but it can happen.

Can you make backups of music downloads?

Yes, in most cases you can. Some download sites even offer special programs that enable the creation of backup CDs or they’ll store the buys online for you so if your hard drive crashes, you still have access to your purchases. Some portable download sites will even enable the copying of music on to multiple devices, but this will depend on the site music is purchased from.

Can you make copies of downloads to give away?

No. You can buy music for others as a gift, but buying a single song and copying it for 50 people is called piracy. Exercise common sense here to avoid any issues.

What stops a person from making copies of portable music?

Digital Rights Management, or DRM, protection is often included in downloads. This is a special programming key that disables copies after X amount or it can stop correct copying all together. What kind of DRM is included in the music you buy will depend on the site and the individual record labels involved.

Portable music and portable music devices are great for helping music lovers enjoy large collections without the hassle of CD cases and storage issues. They must be used and purchased with common sense, however. Piracy is a real problem in the download industry and record labels are getting very serious about prosecution.