I'm an newbee mom and I'm lost

MoetheMom · #1 19-10-2005, 06:21

I just bought my daughter an mp3 player. It is going to be a Christmas gift so I have 2mo to get ready with the songs and all.
The mp3 I bought is a CRAIG model CMP1329. $50.00
It says:
256mp - 4 hours of music
mp3/wma compatable
DRM included
ID3 title
OK here are my questions:
1)Can I download music directly onto this thing? I don't have any CD's.
2)Which sites are good to download from and how do I know if they are compatible with this MP3 player?
3) Do the sites give you directions on how to get started?
I'm totally new to this and not realy that techno savvy. Any advice you can give would be appreciated. Thanks Moe

Muji-FightR · #2 19-10-2005, 10:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoetheMom

I just bought my daughter an mp3 player. It is going to be a Christmas gift so I have 2mo to get ready with the songs and all.
The mp3 I bought is a CRAIG model CMP1329. $50.00
It says:
256mp - 4 hours of music
mp3/wma compatable
DRM included
ID3 title
OK here are my questions:
1)Can I download music directly onto this thing? I don't have any CD's.
2)Which sites are good to download from and how do I know if they are compatible with this MP3 player?
3) Do the sites give you directions on how to get started?
I'm totally new to this and not realy that techno savvy. Any advice you can give would be appreciated. Thanks Moe

there are not many web sites where you can downlaod music for free in a legal way.
if you pay for the music downloads there are several sites like apple music store or musicload (german), i dont know exact urls since i buy my cds in a shop with a beatiful case and because of 64k inet

Normally every mp3 is compatible to mp3players. if you downlaod them or buy the cds or whatever just use the software to copy the music onto the player. with my iriver i can copy the music just via Win Explorer and without any software which is pretty useful.

hope i helped you a little bit, mom !

spidross01 · #3 19-10-2005, 12:38

Well lets start with the first question,

can you download to this thing, yes you can but you will need to save it to your hard drive first. I suggest you create a folder and call it something like mp3's (to create right click in folder or on desktop and selct new > folder the type name for folder

Good sites for music downloads are

www.itunes.com
www.napster.com (now legal seller of music)
www.emusic.com (offering free trial with 50 free downloads of mp3/ 2 weeks long)

There are loads of them and most of the main sites use digital licences embedded in their tracks to prevent people ripping the songs off etc but that won't cause you a problem

Finally when you plug the mp3 in to the computer for the first time it will go through it's own setup routine and probably start charging, allow it to finish installing and charging (this will increase the battery life of the unit)

Once this is done explore your computer (right click my computer select explore) the mp3 will probably be displayed as an extra drive and will be labelled acordingly (hopefully every mp3 is different) You should now be able to open the other folder up that you have put the mp3's into and drag them across onto the Mp3 player, if their is a folder on the mp3 called mp3 then drag the mp3's into that folder (to drag just highlight all the files you want to copy by holding down ctrl and left clicking them in turn or press "shift A" this will selct all of them then left click on the highlighted files and hold the mouse button down and drag them to the mp3 player)

Hopefully this will be of some help, anything you are unsure about please ask.

Anything i have missed out then please others help, i have written this on the hoof so to speak and is a very quick guide.

The instruction manual should help to. But please ask here as there are many people far more intelligent than me that can also help.

Here are some links that you might find useful

MP3 stores

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-10166_7...1.html?tag=txt

Also here is the help part for emusic.com telling you exxactly how to do it

http://www.emusic.com/help/index.htm...1ajg04r0sq0#q8

hope this all helps

MoetheMom · #4 19-10-2005, 14:29

Wow that info was really helpful. I did not know you had to download the music to your computer first.
Q - I checked out the itunes link. I'm a little confused - it had tabs for iPods and talked about downloading music onto iPods. Is it the same thing when you download to your mp3 player?
Q - I also looked at my computer and it has iTunes already on it. Should I just use the iTunes do download the music?
Q - If you use iTunes can you download music from one of the free music download sites or do you just have to use their site?
Thanks for all your help. Moe

spidross01 · #5 19-10-2005, 15:01

itunes is and run by apple software, i have never downloaded from them as i have far to many cd's to have to deal with already without having download anymore

I may be wrong but i believe and should have said before that itunes download .m4a files (apples own version of an mp3)

Since answering your last post have a couple more questions, what software is on the disc that came with the mp3?

Also done a bit more diggin for ya, i have had quite a good look at the emusic.com website, as i said earlier they are offering 50 free mp3's to start you off for 2 weeks, you can cancel at the end of that and no hassle, but if you don't want to continue with them then make sure you cancel before the end of the 2 weeks as they run a subscription basis monthly $9.99 for 40 songs a month upwards to $19.99 for 90 downloads . But this way you can practice with the 50 free mp3's and sort out how it all works and make sure you are happy withour wasting money

But if you can let me know the software that came with the Mp3 on the disc then maybe i can help you some more with a more difinitive answer and ways to do it

As for the answers about itunes, the software itself will organize your whole music collection irrospective of where you got it from and will convert if necessary into the right format to work. itunes was specifically designed fore the ipod but alot of firms are using it. If you start up itunes it will probably ask you to update anyway, do that then look on the left when you start and you will see a tab saying music store, just click on that and it will take you to the the store, but i think it might be best to try www.emusic.com or another one i haven't mentioned yet www.tescodownloads.com as they will give you mp3 downloads which are universal to 99.99% of mp3 players. The tesco download site is very easy to use and although in uk pounds (exchange rate of £1 = $1.80) the price of a track works out at approximately 0.99c

Definately use a website that will give you definite mp3's so you might as well use emusic for the 50 free

By the way i don't work for any of the firms

Let us know what software you have or messenger me when you are online (look at the top of this post and you will see a messenger symbol, click it and ask to be added, will be easier to chat online when you are on your pc)

MoetheMom · #6 19-10-2005, 17:03

OK Here is the big question. Would it be easier to just get an ipod and forget about the mp3 player. It only cost $50.00 and I can return it. It is starting to seem like it would be a lot easier to just go with the ipod since the software seems to be designed for it. What do you think?????

Neipas02 · #7 19-10-2005, 20:04

Alright i'm gonna open my mouth and probably get flamed but whatever..
IPODS are highly overhyped and overrated.

-Way too expensive for a decent sized hard drive. 300 bucks or so for a 20gig drive.. At least it used to be..
-The other resort an IPOD shuffle.. Still expensive 100$ (bang for the buck-wise).. And you can't even control the music thats playing (it "Shuffles" the playlist)
-They can't play wma files.. "Windows Media Audio" files.. Which can be encoded in much better quality with less space than mp3s.

If you wanted something small.. and relatively cheap i'd go for something from creative. A little creative labs muvo.. in a 256mb size is pretty cheap.. and has extras like an fm radio and mic for little voice memos and stuff. They also play wmas.. They may not have the DRM capability however.

I'm just not very fond of IPODS.. Just my opinion.

spidross01 · #8 20-10-2005, 04:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neipas02

Alright i'm gonna open my mouth and probably get flamed but whatever..
IPODS are highly overhyped and overrated.

-Way too expensive for a decent sized hard drive. 300 bucks or so for a 20gig drive.. At least it used to be..
-The other resort an IPOD shuffle.. Still expensive 100$ (bang for the buck-wise).. And you can't even control the music thats playing (it "Shuffles" the playlist)
-They can't play wma files.. "Windows Media Audio" files.. Which can be encoded in much better quality with less space than mp3s.

If you wanted something small.. and relatively cheap i'd go for something from creative. A little creative labs muvo.. in a 256mb size is pretty cheap.. and has extras like an fm radio and mic for little voice memos and stuff. They also play wmas.. They may not have the DRM capability however.

I'm just not very fond of IPODS.. Just my opinion.

Well i thought that until i got one, it is so easy with an ipod honestly, but your mp3 player will be fine you will have the hang of it in no time

My ipod was the best thing i ever boought though but as he said they are expensive

What software is on the disc which came with the mp3 player??

copy2012 · #9 30-11-2005, 01:15

@Neipas02, well when you think of the technology going into a 20gig hard drive that small, you can begin to understand the prices

Good luck with the music mom

Neipas02 · #10 30-11-2005, 15:02

Not at all.. I mean.. I snagged a 20 gigabyte creative zen player for 200 bucks off of ebay.. Plays like a charm.. Easy to use.. 200 versus 300 plus for the IPOD and Sony brand name isn't very appealing to me. Not worth it if you're going for music which its intended for.. If you're in the market to be trendy then by all means go Sony.