The growth of digital music means that PCs are now capable of being complete entertainment systems. Combined with a portable MP3 player, all the music you could ever want to listen to is right at your fingertips.
Your PC gives you the opportunity to obtain music in a variety of ways. You can rip tracks from audio CDs, you can purchase and download tunes from the Internet, and you can share files and download for free – where legal of course! What’s great though is that digital music doesn’t have to be stored on your computer for you to enjoy it. You can listen to streamed music over the Internet and with broadband you can enjoy high-quality audio playback.
Apple up to now has cornered the market where MP3 players are concerned though Creative’s Zen and this year’s Microsoft Zune has made the market more competitive. For now though we will concentrate on Apple’s iTunes and Windows Media Player. If you learn how to get the best out of these programs your listening experience on your portable MP3 player can be greatly enhanced.
1. Programs
You don’t have to own an iPod to use iTunes. You can play tracks as well as purchase songs from the iTunes store.
Windows Media Player can be extended with the help of the Windows Media Bonus Pack. It’s packed with utilities and features that can help increase your productivity and you can customise the appearance with new skins and visualisations.
2. The right format
MP3 is the most popular format, but it’s not the only one. Others include Windows’ WMA and Apple’s AAC format. Another one is Ogg Vorbis. This format is free, opensource and unpatented and can offer a smaller file size with little quality loss.
Take care when working with audio formats - not all media players support the same types. If you have an m4a music file from iTunes you won’t be able to play it using Windows Media Player. You’ll need to continue using your existing media player, or convert it.
3. Same volume feature
During playback tunes may have been recorded from a variety of sources at different volumes and some will sound louder than others. In iTunes you can resolve this problem by clicking Edit > Preferences and selecting the Burning tab. Make sure that Audio CD is selected under Disc Format, then check the option ‘Use Sound Check’. This will ensure that the volume is consistent for all the tracks.
4. Sounds good
Like most media players, iTunes has its own graphic equaliser that enables you to fine-tune audio output. However, it differs from many of these other programs in that you can control the audio playback quality of individual tracks. Right-click any track in the Library and choose Get Info. Select the Options tab and you can adjust its volume and assign it a preset Equalizer setting. You can choose from the likes of Pop, Rock, Jazz and Classical.
5. Record audio
None of the mainstream media players offer a record function for streamed broadcasts. You’ll need to look to third-party applications to achieve this. For example, Any Sound Recorder will enable you to record any sound that’s played on your PC and save it in MP3 format.
6. Track information
Music managers and digital jukeboxes such as iTunes provide a connection to an extensive CD database that contains track listing information for most discs. If you insert a disc and no information is displayed then you can try and retrieve the information manually by clicking Advanced > Get CD Track Names. If this still doesn’t work you can click Advanced > Submit CD Track and enter the information manually if you know it and share it with other users.
These programs act as a gateway to your portable MP3 players. Getting the most from these will ensure you have the best from your player - from the variety of tracks you can source to the way you arrange and edit them. And the best thing is that they are always being updated and improved.
Published on 11th January 2007
