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Archive for the ‘Media Player’ Category

When you own an MP3 player you are happy because you can access the whole of your music collection any time that you want. These are wonderful modern devices and their popularity has already been proved right across the world.

However, if you are thinking of buying an MP3 player you may find that they may seem to be a bit expensive, especially for the latest models. However there is some good news as there are now many budget price players on the market, which can give you the ability to watch music videos as well as listen to all your music and which will not cost you a small fortune to purchase.

So who makes these cheap MP3 players? Well there are many manufacturers, even some of the big name brands that produce low-cost players, but at the end of the day the device you buy will be down to personal choice on the styling and the facilities that you want. Bear in mind though that a cheaper player is likely to have less features than the top of the range models from the same supplier.

When you start your search for a cheap mp3 option make sure you already know what you want from your new player. If you are not sure then go online and do some research into what is currently available at the price you are prepared to pay. And of course check out any online sales or discount stores, where you can usually buy MP3 players much cheaper then at any retail store at the mall.

Some of the more popular, but cheaper, players from some of the big names in the industry are supplied by Sony, Creative Zen and Microsoft and you should checkout their Walkman, Mozaic and Zune models respectively as they currently offer very good value for money. Note that these budget models may not have the same capacity as their bigger brothers, so you will not be able to store as many songs or videos on these players.

The styling of each player will be different, even for the models from the same range. But all of them are very easy to use and will provide you with all of the features you need and can expect from the cheaper end of the range. They are all great fun and, if you have never owned an MP3 player before, you will be surprised at how much enjoyment you will get as soon as you get your player out of the box. Music fans have never had it so good!

There are, of course, many other manufacturers who can supply you with a bargain deal on their own cheaper players, so shop around until you find exactly what you are looking for. There is a very large choice of player on the market today and it may take some time to find something you really like at the price you are prepared to pay. Searching online is the best way to do this, but don’t just buy the first you find, as by jumping in so soon you may miss out on a player with better features at the same price.

When online you should visit sites such as Amazon and eBay to start your search. They both always have a very large inventory of the whole spectrum of different suppliers and this will enable you to make the right decision when you want to get the best MP3 player model that your budget will allow.

The prices they offer are normally very good too and it is very likely that you will find what you want at one of these two sites. Also checkout your local newspaper to look for adverts from local stores as sometimes they have sales where they sell older models at cheap prices. Also look at cheap digital media players because they will have many more features than a standard player and maybe that’s what you want.

Apple certainly would like you to think that their iPod Touch portable digital media player is the way all these devices should be built in the future. Other manufacturers would like to have a say in this, but it is Apple that is leading the way forward.

The second generation iPod touch has held a dominant position in the marketplace for some time now and with the recent release of the third generation iTouch models this slot at the top looks set to continue. Indeed if the new release is anything to go by then Apple, as well as all iPod users, will be happy as the features you get with these devices really looks like the future for all portable media players. And this is very good news

The Apple iPod touch combines all the top features of the other iPods in the range and the best of Apple’s iPhone device. In fact the touch and iPhone look so similar it is hard to tell them apart. As a user this means that you will always get one of the best sounding music players and in addition you also get a Wi-Fi connection to the Internet for use wherever you happen to be.

This ability of the Apple iPod touch to let you browse the Internet through WiFi also enables you to send and receive emails directly on the player. This is just like having your own personal computer with you all the time and you can just store it in your pocket! This functionality is often all than many of us ever use our computers for and now the iPod Touch just does it all for you. Do we actually need computers anymore?

But where the touch excels is when it comes to you playing your music. With the in-built software it is possible for the iPod touch to synch songs down from iTunes on you computer very quickly, so now waiting around forever to get your music loaded is a thing of the past. These devices have enough storage capacity to hold enough music to keep you happy all the time.

There is also the facility to play videos on the touch and this is one that many of us just love. Being able to run our favorite video clips at any time is just so useful, especially if you are a regular traveler or a real movie buff. The screen display is clear and bright so that your videos will always look great. Movies on the move is a neat concept that is attracting even more users to this top of the range iPod.

The iPod touch runs the same software as the iPhone, so this means you have the benefit of loading up your device with literally hundred of great software applications or apps. One of the biggest benefits of this is to gamers who can play video games on these machines. And with the new iPod Touch 3G the features you get for gaming have been really enhanced to provide much more fun and entertainment.

There are also a load of more serious apps available that come as standard or can be download easily from Apple’s App Store in literally just a few seconds. The benefits you get from this means that these players are infinitely expandable as new applications are being written every day and new releases will always be at the forefront of this technology.

The only downside for some with the iPod touch is that the storage space, even with the 64GB of the latest models, may not be enough for some of us who have a vast number of music tracks to load up. But for most of us this capacity will be just fine.

But the future is bright as Apple will of course address this issue and bigger capacity players are already in the pipeline and, as with the iPod Nano, you should expect to see an integrated video camera built in to these devices before very long.

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Windows media player is by far the most popular and common platform for video streaming and it’s not hard to see why. Microsoft has been around for a long time, and chances are it won’t be going anywhere soon, so choosing Windows media player as a format seems to be a pretty safe bet.

Being backed by the biggest name in personal computing certainly has its advantages. As it is pre-loaded onto Windows, the dominant PC operating system, you can potentially reach an audience far in excess of what other media formats are capable of. Windows media player files are usually high quality and low in size, meaning that they offer a rich user experience and are easy to download.

It’s not all good news, however. Microsoft has a nasty habit of changing formats and standards frequently, which can make it difficult for producers to keep up. Whilst Microsoft Windows users are well catered for, those using other packages may have problems with the format

To use Windows Media for streaming video, one needs to follow these 3 steps:

Choose a format – Windows Media has several different file formats. For those looking for a good all round choice for video, WMV is the pick of the bunch.

Create a video/audio file – Once you have decided on your format, the next step is to create your video file. The easiest way to do this is by exporting from your editing application. In this application you should have an option such as File>Export, this will show you all of the options that are open to you.

Place the files on a web page – Now you are ready to put your video onto your site. There are two ways this can be done, namely hyperlinking and embedding.

Hyperlinking – You can hyperlink directly to your video file by using this code;

Click here to view video

When this hyperlink is clicked on, their Windows Media Player will open and load the video file automatically. The disadvantage of this method is that there is no way of determining when the playback will begin.

For this reason, many people opt for embedding

Embedding – This places the video clip within the body of the webpage. The advantage of this is that the user does not have to open media player or another browser window.

This article has been brought to you by Streaming Tank, who help organisations to implement media streaming and webcasting solutions. To find out more, visit: http://www.streamingtank.com

The new Zune 4GB digital media player is out. The 4GB model, along with the 8GB and 80GB models now give Zune fans alternatives to the popular Original 30GB model. The new 4GB player is smaller than the original at: 3.6″ Height x 1.63″ Width x 0.33″ Depth. The viewing screen is also smaller at 1.8″, (3″ screen for the 30GB Zune). The price is also a bit smaller than the 30GB model. 4GB of storage memory may sound meager when compared to the new Zune 80GB’s hard drive. 4GB is still enough memory to store 1,000 songs at 128kbs playback, 25,000 JPEG pictures or about 12 hours of video at a 512kbs playback speed. Things have certainly changed, I remember my first laptop computer, bought in ’92 had only a 40MB hard drive – 100 times smaller than the Zune 4GB’s flash memory.

The new 4GB model comes in a variety of colors and includes ear bud headphones and covers. You will have to purchase the charger for the built-in battery separately however. The build-in FM radio feature, present on all Zune models is something you can’t get on an iPod. All Zune models support the most popular audio; (AAC, MP3, WMA, Protected WMA), and video; (WMV), playback formats.

The 4GB model provides the opportunity to get a much smaller, even more portable personal media player at a more affordable price. The trade-offs are less video viewing area and the need to down, and upload from your personal computer more often. The new touch-pad design makes browsing content much faster and easier. You don’t have to physically connect to your computer to download content if you have a wireless computer network at home. As with all Zunes, you have the ability to share songs and media and download free video selections over the wireless connectivity feature. The Social lives on.

You can access millions of songs in the Zune Marketplace. Downloading music and video is easy. there are lots of choices to download music – with Pass subscription, through Microsoft points, or a host of other online media providers and member sites. Play lists from Marketplace editors are constantly being updated and published for weekly viewing on the Zune, as well as artist biographies and stories from top music and video online magazines.

All the new Zune models and application upgrades provide consumers more choice. More choice is great and the Zune 4GB will offer some people just the right combination of ultra-portability, ease of use and features they have been looking for.

The Nokia 5228 has a dedicated Media Bar for instant access to the music player from the home screen and has battery life to support up to 33 hours of music playback from each charge. The handset has a large touch screen display providing a stunning user interface which is easy to use.

The handset has a 2 megapixel camera which can also be accessed from a dedicated camera key, and is supported by up to 3 times digital zoom and a CMOS sensor. There are also a variety of other helpful features to allow the user to easily take the perfect photo first time when utilising the camera. Photos can also be captured in landscape orientation as well as enhanced through a range of white balancing and colour toning modes available. Video recording is also possible with up to 4 times digital zoom and support for many video modes also. There is an integrated editor for both video clips and images meanwhile.

The 5228 features the Nokia Ovi Player for music playback, supporting all the major audio file formats and dedicated music keys along with support for podcasting. The integrated speaker offers one way to listen, while there is also a 3.5mm stereo audio jack connection for traditional headphones. Ovi Music support is also featured, along with support for music ringtones on this handset. For live news and music, the user can also enjoy the integrated FM radio.

The OSS browser offers the user a full HTML and XHTML supporting web browser along with support for Javascript, and Mobile Search as a search engine besides those otherwise featured on the Web. The handset features a range of good connectivity including high speed USB 2.0 and Bluetooth 2.0 for wireless file sharing over a close proximity. Meanwhile, the device is not short on storage memory with 70megabyte internally provided and up to 16 gigabytes available for addition through its microSD card slot.

Messaging is also made easy with this phone as it features an easy to use email client which offers full support for all the major email protocols as well as email attachments. Mail for Exchange 2008 is also preinstalled on this device. Both text and multimedia messaging are also supported along with a common inbox for both, and easy multiple deletion. Audio messaging is also available through Xpress.

The Nokia 5228 is an impressively designed handset featuring a large 3.2 inch touch screen and typically easy to use Nokia user interface combined with some powerful features and software. The phone is capable of messaging, email and more along with great music playback functionality.

Since the debut of the iPod there has been a war going on. A secret, stealthy war that we’ve all been apart of, in fact, we’re the prime targets of this war. On the outside, the iPod is just a nice, expensive MP3 player. On the inside, it is a device that is used to direct our attentions to Apple’s music store and Apple’s media player software, known as: Itunes. Shortly after the iPod was released Microsoft began developing it’s own kind of monster. They dubbed it the Zune. It was alot like the iPod, but it had more functionality, though everyone liked the iPod, because they all already had one. The Zune tried to persuade it’s listeners to use Microsoft’s media player software, Windows Media Player. And then there was one more faction at the heart of this war, collaborating between the two, trying to get them to work together in one single, slightly non-commercialized package, Winamp.

Now what side are you going to be on in this war? Are you going to be using Windows Media Player 11, iTunes 7, or Winamp 5.52. We’re going to take this decision and make it a lot easier for you in this comparative analysis of each of the best media player software out there by listing the features, pros, and cons, and overall ease of use of each media player.

iTunes 7

The latest version of iTunes is 7.6 and it was released on January 15th, 2008. It’s Apple’s main free media player software, and it features the iTunes Store, easy syncing to your computer and your iPod, Cover Flow, encode music into a variety of formats, and it also has a big selection of internet radio stations to listen to. It has a really easy to use user interface, everything is at your finterips, and your iPod syncs with the software automatically. Though, I found the iPod syncing a little annoying, because typically it just loads up your iPod with everything it can find in your Music Library, and it doesn’t make it very easy to pick tracks to exclude. Also the fact that it just does it automatically everytime I plug in my iPod makes it really annoying, I’d rather have it wait for me to tell it when to sync. The iTunes Store is something that Apple is especially proud of because you can buy over 2 million songs for only $0.99 each, you can also purchase movies for your iPod, and they’ve just released their movie rental program that seems promising.

Pros:

Cover Flow is a cool way to look through your music. The iTunes store has a huge database of songs, movies, and TV series for you to download. Many internet radio stations for you to check out

Cons:

I find the automatic syncing of the iPod a little annoying Typically only has good MP3 player support for the iPod, if you have a different MP3 player you’re on your own.
Windows Media Player 11

Windows Media Player 11 is Microsoft’s answer to a fully capable media player. It has a less cluttered user interface than WMP10 and the look has been smoothed out so it looks alot nicer than it did before. It features the typical audio, video, media playback, visualizations, MP3 player syncing, good organized library with CD ripping capabilities. You can also connect it to your Xbox 360 to pull songs and videos from your PC to your 360 which is an amazing feature to have so instead of wasting space on your Xbox, and having multiple copies of your favorite songs everywhere just stream it from your PC while you’re playing your favorite 360 game. It’ll also stream videos so you can watch them from your PC on your TV. This feature alone is something worth checking out WMP11 for, however you can still do this if you don’t have Windows Media Player by using Windows Media Connect software available at Microsoft’s Website.

Pros:

Ability to connect your Xbox 360 to your PC for media sharing and streaming Spiffy new interface to keep things looking fresh

Cons:

The format support isn’t as good as other programs Need a genuine copy of Windows to use it
Winamp

There’s something about saving the best for last that makes it all worth while. Winamp is the original ultimate media player, and has been around since ancient times. You can do just as much as the other media players with Winamp, and more. It can sync to your iPod and other PlaysForSure devices. Also comes with visualizations, and extremely easy and good to organize library system. The ability to remove duplicate files from your library. Also features a new skin to keep up with times in their latest release. Winamp also has plugin functionality and a wide database of plugins on their main website. Winamp also has the functionality of connecting to your Xbox 360 and letting you stream music from it, however the system is still in it’s beta, and doesn’t work as flawlessly as it should when it’s ready for a stable release. But instead of just being able to stream your music and videos, it has the ability to take the best of the best from YouTube, AOL Videos and many more video websites and display them on your TV via your 360. That, I think is an impressive feature to have. The only downside is the ripping capability in the free version of Winamp. If you don’t have the pro version, the quality and speed of the ripping is hardly worth waiting for, you’d be better off finding another program for ripping through a google search rather than dealing with that. But if you shell out the cash for the pro version the ripping is well worth it, because it has the ability to rip it into practically any format you want, and any quality you desire.

Pros:

Easy to manage your music library Many streaming video and radio channels to choose from Ability to connect to your Xbox 360 and stream videos and music to it Easy iPod syncing

Cons:

Touchy software, sometimes crashes while doing random things like loading up your iPod or ripping a CD Bad ripping performance until you purchase the Pro version

So there you have it. Each media player has it’s pros and cons, there is no one solution, but whatever you prefer, iTunes is for the common iPod audience, WinAmp is for the music power users, and Windows Media Player 11 is suitable for the rest in between.