Everything You Wanted To Know About MP3 Players But WEREN'T Afraid To Ask
06-22-2004
By: Robert O'Connor
A short while ago, I wrote an article for this column on the subject of MP3 Players (iPods etc). To my astonishment and delight, I received numerous emails about the article in which readers made further enquiries about MP3s, devices and digital music in general. This feedback was most welcome for two reasons. Firstly, it means that I'm not the only one interested in digital music and thus not a complete nerd (although that is still up for debate). Secondly, it indicates that people actually read this column! Many of these queries raised issues that warranted attention in another article. So without further ado
This is a huge boost to the research and development centre based at Waterford Institute of Technology, which currently employs an expert workforce of approximately 50 full-time people. The TSSG has established a reputation as a centre of excellence both nationally and internationally for research into the development and management of software services on emerging technology platforms.
Battery Life in iPods
One concern that has emerged is the battery life of Apple's iPod. There was a well-documented problem with the older model of iPod in which the battery died after about 1-2 years. The iPod device is constructed with the battery embedded within the player (and thus irremovable). The only way to replace it (without voiding warranty) was to send the iPod off to Apple themselves - however this incurred a charged of approximately EUR100! This problem arose from the nature of rechargeable batteries themselves. Each battery may only be recharged a certain number of times before it dies. Thus to maximise battery lifespan, they should only be recharged when flat. However, many people charge them up constantly, which can significantly reduce the lifespan of the battery. Of course with later models of the iPod, Apple have addressed and solved this problem and this is no longer an issue. For more information on this subject, please see Apple's website.
Music Download Services
Another question that I received was about the availability of legitimate music download services in Ireland (or apparent lack thereof). Without a doubt, the largest and most publicised music digital download service in the world is Apple's iTunes. Although this service is available in the UK, unfortunately the iTunes music store is not available in Ireland at present. This is due to outstanding licensing and royalty issues between Apple and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which is an umbrella group for national music rights associations. However, Apple are keen to resolve these and with their recent collaboration with U2 on the fancy black iPod, we may see "iTunes Ireland" sometime in 2005.
Besides iTunes, other services are available. One example is Eircom's Music Store, a digital music download service run by the telecommunications operator. However music purchased from Eircom's store is encoded in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, which while recognised by some MP3 players, is not compatible with iPod devices. Unfortunately, this incompatibility between formats is a large issue with digital music players. Some devices play WMAs, others play Apple's Advanced Audio Codec (AAC). However, they all support plain old MP3. In my opinion, until the music download services sort themselves out and decide on a single format, people using digital music players are best off "ripping" (copying) their own CDs to MP3 format themselves. That's the method I use anyway. There are many freely available tools to do this - enter "MP3 ripper" into Google's search engine and see how many results you get!
Other Players
In the previous article on MP3 players, I listed a number of products I believe to be good devices. Of course, I received a number of emails about players that I DIDN'T mention. There is a huge range of products available and it would be impossible to list them all. However, there are two devices new to the market that certainly bear mentioning. Apple have released the "iPod Mini", a smaller version of the iPod that is available in a number of colours. In much the same way as its predecessor, the "iPod Mini" is seen as a fashion item as much as a music player. The "iPod Mini" holds 4GBs worth of music and is priced at EUR269 from Apple's Online Store. Another player that is proving to be very successful is the Creative Zen Touch. This Creative device is more like the iPod in design (in that it's "pretty") and is proving to be very popular and a serious competitor to the iPod itself. The Creative Zen Touch holds 20GB of music and is available from Komplett's online store for EUR253.
Due to the amount of feedback I received from the previous article and the popularity of these devices (and my own enthusiasm for the subject!), it is very likely that I shall write further articles on the subject - so watch this space!
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