November 28, 2008, Newsletter Issue #88: Using Your Portable MP3 Player

Tip of the Week

Shopping.com Tip: All MP3 players operate differently, but have some things in common when it comes to how to use them.

All MP3 players have a headset jack, and you won't hear anything if you don't plug in earbuds or a headset first! All but the smallest MP3 players have a menu-based navigation system that allows you to select the song you want to play, and a button that allows you start play. Some navigation systems also allow you to organize your music into playlists, which can be very handy.

All MP3 players have a volume control, which allows you to turn your music up or down while playing.

The method by which music is loaded into your player varies from player to player, but the trend is to allow MP3 files to be simply moved onto your player by dragging and dropping files - similar to how you load files into a simple flash jump drive. Connection to your PC can either be with a USB cable, a firewire cable or via direct memory card transfer into one of many PC-based memory card readers.

Some MP3 players have equalizers that allow you to optimize the sound quality per genre of music - these are menu driven via an LCD display on your player.

It is always a good idea to completely read your users guide when you make your initial purchase - you may discover features that you didn't know you had!

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