If you don't know what MP3 is then I suspect you're probably messing around with the computer you just bought for your son and thought you'd type some trendy buzz words (like MP3) into a search engine. Well then Grandad, it's your lucky day cause this is the idiot's guide to MP3.
MP3 is basically just a new way of storing music. Remember your old 78's... 45's... 33's..? Then there was cassette tapes or even 8-track. After that came those newfangled CD thingies. Well MP3 is the next step in the evolution of audio formats. The compact disc took music from an analogue format and brought it into the 21st Century with digital processing and storage techniques. This leap forward meant that the music can be electronically manipulated using modern computer technology. MP3 is just an extension of this technology allowing for a greater amount of audio information to be stored and played back from a given amount of "electronic space". For instance: A regular CD can hold upto 80 minutes of high quality music whereas the same CD containing music compressed in MP3 format could hold nearly 10 times as much music without any noticeable loss of quality. I have a complete set of Pink Floyd Albums which in MP3 format all fit onto one CD.
MP3 players are now common place in electrical retailers but in my opinion they offer little advantage over standard CD players in terms of capacity (which is surely the point of MP3). However, there are now on the market a number of CD players which have MP3 decoding software built in. They will play standard CD's, CD-R, CD-RW and of course your latest 10+ hour compilation disc freshly burned on your (or your son's PC) using MP3 software. Think of it Grandad - the full Pink Floyd back catalogue without changing a disc or pressing a button. You're gonna need one big Doobie for that trip....
LCD display.
Line output socket.
Recharge facility for standard nicad/NI MH batteries.
Bass boost function.
Includes earphones, AC adaptor and full car kit. Requires 2 x AA batteries.
Over 10 hours of music playback on one CD using MP3.
Up to 6 hours battery life on 2 x AA batteries-not supplied.
Up to 25 second anti-shock.
20 track programmable.
However, before you get too excited you'll need to get your hands on some software to carry out the process. When MP3 first hit the internet several years ago it was a case of scratching around finding individual programs to rip (copy), edit, encode, and burn your MP3 CD. These days there are programs that do all the work for you. My personal favourite is Musicmatch Jukebox which I've been using since version 2. When I last checked it was up to version 6 which has too many features to list and is available as either a free but limited program or a fully functional program. The limited version has all the feature you need can be downloaded from the Musicmatch site.