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Music & Video for MP3 Players Tips
Downloading Legal vs Illegal Music
The RIAA is cracking down on peer-to-peer music sharing sites, and if you do use one, even if you pay a subscription fee you could find yourself in hot water.
Opinions differ on the use of peer-to-peer sites - some say that it is no different that sharing music among friends. Others view it as stealing and the federal government is in this camp.
Peer-to-peer file sharing sites in question include Kazaa, Grokster, Morpheus, Madster, eDonkey, Direct Connect, OpenNap, iMesh, and Gnutella.
These sites allow you to share music on your computer, and download music found on other's computers.
Sites such as Rhapsody, iTunes and MP3.com that require payment have fully legal downloads, from a centralized server.
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Disney Music Downloads
Shopping.com Tip: If you own one of the Disney Mix Sticks MP3 media players, getting Disney music is as simple as purchasing a pre-made Mix Stick loaded with your favorite tunes.
This player, designed for kids, removes the challenge of using a computer to transfer music.
If you have a different MP3 media player, then you have a wide assortment of sites available for downloading Disney Music. iTunes carries Disney music for purchase, or a subscription to a site like 360 Share allows you to use peer-to-peer technology to locate and download Disney tunes from other's computers. MP3.com also carries a significant Disney library.
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Like to Sing in the Shower? Download Karaoke Tunes
Karaoke tunes are available for download from many different sites, and can turn your MP3 player into a great party, with the addition of some speakers!
It is important to check the format of karaoke music before downloading, as much of it is in a format used by karaoke machines, called CDG, which is not easily convertable to MP3 format.
Vocalist.org is a great web-based source for karaoke that is already in MP3 format, and readily downloadable.
Just make sure that you store the songs in a separate playlist marked Karaoke, otherwise you will wonder why your favorite tune has no vocals!
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How Do You Add Music to Your MP3 Player?
Shopping.com Tip: The methods for adding music to your MP3 digital audio player vary based on the type of player you have. Many of the flash-based players have an interface that allows you to "drag-and-drop" music into the player in the same way that you add files to a flash-based jump drive.
The Apple iPod uses its iTunes interface to transfer music into the player - you simply plug in your player, then transfer tunes by dragging and dropping them into the player when it appears on the left side of the iTunes screen. You can create playlists in iTunes, and then drag them to your player, as well. This helps keep the music organized as to format, and use.
Playlists can be created for exercise music, podcasts, music genre or by artist.
Microsoft uses its own Zune interface for music transfer, and Creative Labs offers a Zencast organizer to store downloads, as well as the Zencast site with lots of audio content.
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How Do You Download Music?
The web is literally packed full of sites, legal and otherwise, that have music libraries available for download.
The most famous site is iTunes, which has music for purchase and download, for transfer to your iPod.
However, there are other sites available that are just as easy to use and download from.
Yahoo has a subscription-based site for $5.99/month that features tons of new music, as well as old favorites. PC Magazine's Editors Choice is a service called Rhapsody.com. And 360 Share is a subscription based peer-to-peer service, based on the Napster model.
A new social networking site allows downloads of music promoted by new bands and talent, www.panjea.com is full of great tracks sold by their creators.
Truly, the advent of MP3 downloads has opened up a whole new musical world!
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Why Should You Use iTunes Playlists?
Playlists are a very handy way of organized your music, especially if you prefer different types of music at different times or store audio books, as well.
If you want to stay motivated while exercising, a playlist of fast-paced, heart-pumping music is a great way to do it.
If you have difficulty falling asleep, a playlist of sleepy time music may also be helpful.
Organizing your music by artist, or genre will also make it easier to find when you are in the mood for that particular sound.
It would be very annoying to have your sales training material suddenly start playing right after Aerosmith - so organization is key to controlling your audio environment!
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How Do You Put Videos on Your iPod?
The easiest way to obtain movies and transfer them to your iPod is by purchasing them from the iTunes store. This way, they are already in the proper format and can be easily transferred to your video iPod when you synch up with your PC.
If you have movies on DVD and want to transfer them to your iPod, the PQ DVD to iPod Converter suite will rip them for you and allow you to transfer them over easily.
This suite also converts other video formats to iPod, so you can transfer over AVI video from your camcorder, YouTube or media purchased from RealMedia to your iPod, as well.
It runs about $30, and is downloadable from the web.
