My New MP3 Player

by Bob Seidel

From the subtle (and perhaps not so subtle) hints I have been dropping in prior columns, I have been lusting after a hard-drive based MP3 player for a while now. I have used flash based players for years, but wanted something more. Well, I did it, and here is the initial report.

First of all, what is the difference? A portable MP3 player basically stores a certain amount of music in digital file format (i.e. MP3 or WMA files) on a digital memory medium. You can then select and play the songs, usually through headphones. The question is: which storage medium is used? In the early days of portable MP3 players, small and rugged hard drive technology did not exist. It was possible to use portable CD players, but they were large and skipped badly at the gym or on the jogging trail. So, songs were stored either on built-in memory in the player itself, or on digital memory cards similar to those used by digital cameras. The technical term for this kind of memory is "flash" memory (for reasons not worth going into here), which can save its contents permanently without need of batteries. You only need the battery power to actually turn on the player and play the songs.

The problem was capacity. Most early MP3 players had only 64-128MB of storage. If an average WMA song file was 2-4MB, that allows you to put in about 30 songs - enough for an hour at the gym, but not more. Later players have 256MB or so, but still not enough. So, what you did was to connect the player to your PC, download a set of songs, and then use that set until you got tired of them and downloaded some more. Downloaded a new set of songs before I started up the treadmill was a regular chore.

But, finally, small hard drives are becoming available that could fit in the portable MP3 package size, and could withstand rugged use. This gave rise to a number of hard-drive based players, the most popular of which is the Apple iPod. I mentioned some criteria for evaluating an MP3 player the other week, and thus started on my own quest.

I ended up with the Dell DJ30 player, available only directly from Dell. I decided not to go for a photo capable one - more on that in another column. The unit has a nice looking brushed metal case, a seven-line display with automatic backlighting, and uses a thumb wheel to navigate the menus. You push the thumbnail to make selections. The only other buttons are a Menu button (takes you to the top of the menu tree), a menu Back button, and the usual 3 song-control buttons (step back, step forward, play/pause). The product comes with a mostly useless set of ear-bud earphones, and an almost totally useless case. Dell, of course, offers upgraded headphones and cases if you want to add to the bill! The extras I ordered were a car charging cable, and a remote control that fits in the headphone cord.

The unit is easy to use, and has excellent audio quality. Even after downloading my entire digital library, I hardly scratched the surface of its capacity.

I did recommend in my prior column that you look for a player that supported the USB Storage Class, so you could easily use it as an external hard drive. Well, it turns out that is hard to come by. The reason is the industry's desire to control all aspects of DRM (Digital Rights Management). Basically, they don't want you to copy songs illegally, and by they implement that by rigidly controlling the interface to the player.

However, the software supplied did function fairly well. But there is enough of a story for another column soon. Meanwhile, I can now carry my entire music collection with me wherever I go. I can use it in my car, and that eliminates the need to carry CDs. You can connect the player to a car radio either by a cassette adapter or using an adapter that basically makes the player into a radio station, that you play by dialing your FM receiver to that station.

More later.

(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)