select the mp3 player

The market for MP3 Players can be a confusing one, just as it is for many home and portable electronics. Some of the most important things to consider when shopping for an MP3 player are how you personally wish to use the player, its weight/size, and storage capacity. In addition, you will need to become somewhat knowledgeable about file formats and compatibility with your PC.

First, think about the type of device you really want.

Hard drive-based MP3 player:

These offer the most storage; from 10 GB and higher (up to 80GB) allowing you to put huge amounts of music on one device. They also have larger display screens and are easy to use. For these reasons, they are an excellent choice for use when commuting in your car. A hard drive-based MP3 player is larger and heavier however. They have movable parts which can be jarred during motion which makes them a poor choice for use during fitness activities. A hard drive-based MP3 player usually has rechargeable batteries which can be a cost saver but many are not removable and must be replaced after 4 or 5 years. There are also some "micro" hard drive-based players with a capacity that tops out around 12GB. Although smaller/lighter than a regular hard drive-based player their moving parts still make them a poor choice for activity.

Flash-based MP3 players:

A flash-based MP3 player is an excellent choice for use during exercise/activity. They have no moving parts, are extremely compact, and have a 32 MB-8GB capacity. Due to the lack of moving parts their batteries tend to last longer. With all of this convenience however they actually have a much higher per megabyte cost than the hard drive devices.

MP3 CD Players:

These devices can play standard CDs and can store up to 650 MB. They are the least expensive MP3 Player but they are large and can skip when moved thus are not a good choice for use during activity.


Once you have determined which type of MP3 player is best suited to you based on how you wish to use it and how much storage is desire, you will want to consider issues related to downloading music.

What format is used?

MP3 is the most common but some of the others include .aac, .wma, .wav, and atrac. These are all formats used to compress music files so that they can be downloaded quickly and take up less memory. WMA formats for instance, allow the user to store nearly twice as much per megabyte but are a less common file type that MP3. This is important to consider since any particular file type can not be used if your MP3 player does not support it.

Connecting to your computer and downloading:

If you want to download music from your PC a USB 2.0 standard interface is much faster than USB 1.0. A FireWire Port or FireWire PCI card is also fast but only supported on some computers.


Finally, be sure to check for other features such as the following:

The display:

Can you read it? This is important as it allows you to use the functions on the device and provides information you want such as the title, artist and other playlist information.

Other functions and features:

FM radio reception, a remote, a clip to attach to your bag or possibly an armband if you're active, the ability to record music live or from stereo components, voice recording, or advanced playback features. Some flash MP3 players offer a stopwatch function or other fitness related features. Newer MP3 players now offer color screens, photo viewing, and video playback for those who want all the bells and whistles.

There are a large number of MP3 player products on the market, finding the right one requires buyers to carefully consider which functions and features are most desirable for them. Using a simple buying guide can get a shopper thinking in the right direction and simplify the selection process.

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Maturity Effects of Planets and Houses

What makes Vedic Astrology superior to other Divination systems, including Western Astrology, is its level of accuracy and precision in prediction. Predictive methods are based on very complex calculations and there are numerous methods which will pinpoint timing down to the exact minute. However there is a simple method which gives remarkable results and should
be taken into account when seeing a chart.

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George Benson - Legendary Jazz Guitar Music Virtuoso - Part 3

Jazz guitarist George Benson stayed with the CTI Record label for six years, recording an album every year. His jazz guitar music album "White Rabbit" from 1972 was nominated for a Grammy and Benson was accorded the honor of playing on Miles Davis's "Miles In The Sky" album. The jazz trumpet master offered him a spot in his band which included at that time Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Benson turned it down as he was satisfied with the money he was making with CTI Records, but he was also starting to chafe under Creed Taylor's creative restraints. When his contract with CTI was up for renewal in 1976, he signed with Warner Brothers Records.

Read More … George Benson - Legendary Jazz Guitar Music Virtuoso - Part 3

Canadian Folk Music- An extra plume

Folk songs and instrumental Celtic music were first recorded by French-Canadian musicians in 1920′s. On the Starr, Bluebird, Columbia and Compo labels, around the time of the Veillees du bon vieux temps, several singers and groups such as Charles Marchand, eugene Daignault, Ovila Legare, Conrad Gauthier, Les Troubadours de Bytown, Madame Bolduc and le Quatuor Alouette revived the folk music of yesteryear. Classical versions of Quebec folk music were equally present in vogue. Opera and concert singers eva Gauthier, Paul Dufault, Alexandre Desmarteaux, Joseph Saucier, Salvator Issaurel, Hercule Lavoie, Placide Morency, Sarah Fischer, Jose Delaquerriere, emile Gour, and Le Trio Lyrique (with Lionel Daunais), and the companies La Bonne Chanson (with Charles-emile Gadbois and Albert Viau) and les Varietes Lyriques, offered versions of traditional tunes. In collaboration with Herbert Berliner, producer Romeo Beaudry played a dominant role in the burgeoning French-Canadian music industry.

On the same period, fiddlers Joseph Allard,  Joseph Bouchard, Isidore Soucy, Louis "Pitou" Boudreault, Ti-Jean Carignan and Ti-Blanc Richard recorded reels, cotillions, quadrilles and other dances of French or English origin. The accordionists Alfred Montmarquette, Donat Lafleur, and Philippe Bruneau and harmonica players Henri Lacroix, Louis Blanchette, and Joseph Lalonde recorded similar repertoire. Traditional songs and dances have been continued to be published in Le Passe-Temps, La Lyre, Le Terroir and Le Carillon. In 1927, 1928 and 1930, the CPR Festivals happened in Quebec were notable folk music events.

There is no doubt that Quebec country music and western music was influenced by the US, but from the 1930′s it began to merge with folk, as demonstrated by the music of Joseph-Ovila LaMadeleine, Oscar Thiffault and Les Montagnards laurentiens. The history of French-Canadian country music has been dates from the career of Soldat Roland Lebrun, in the late 1930s. After Lebrun came to the country music pioneers Paul Brunelle, Marcel Martel, Willie Lamothe, Roger Miron, Levis Boulianne and Bobby Hachey. Closer to the present, La famille Daraiche, edith Butler, Georges Hamel, Renee Martel, Patrick Norman, Stef Carse, Veronic Dicaire, Manon Bedard, Gildor Roy, Mara Tremblay and Cayouche are the best known French-Canadian country-folk musicians.

After a few decades, French-Canadian folk music has seemed to distance itself from its roots, but artists like La famille Soucy, Les Cailloux, Les Cabestans, Les Quatre-vingts, Pierre Daignault, Raoul Roy, Andre Lejeune, Jean-Paul Filion, and Jacques Labrecque kept it alive through popular music.  Due to the formation of Folklore Archives at Universite Laval by Luc Lacourciere, and the television program La soiree canadienne, are two examples of the efforts invested in folk music preservation.

The mixing of styles became more deliberate in the 1970s. French-Canadian and Quebec musicians in that decade and later, such as La Bottine souriante, Garolou, 1755, Beausoleil Broussard, Barachois, Suroit, Le reve du diable, Les Karrik, Cano, La vesse du loup, Barde, Breton-Cyr, Calixte Duguay and Donat Lacroix, employed a hybrid artistic approach. Beginning in the 1990s there was a "trad" folk revival, by the younger generation and in a style said to be authentic, with Les tireux d'roches, La volee d'castors, Les langues fourchues, Le Vent du nord, Mauvais sort, Les charbonniers de l'enfer, La veillee est jeune, Legende and Les chauffeurs apieds. Meanwhile, the revivification of the same popular traditions with a fusion of musical styles as in the pop music of Mes Aïeux, Les Batinses, Michel Faubert, Grand derangement and Quebecissime, was designated "neo-trad."

The work of these artists is often categorized as "world music." Conversely, many contemporary Quebec musicians originating from elsewhere produced a repertoire of sounds considered "exotic" in Canada.

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Cry Baby Broadway is Back!

“Cry Baby” is a Broadway musical version of the 1990 movie under the same name by John Waters. It explores the dissident side of John’s mind. Although the plot is the typical bad guy versus good girl, the charisma exuded by each character and the rebel of the teens of 1950s is worth a watch.

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