Keep your MP3 player secure while working out

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comListening to your favorite music is a great way to stay motivated and focused while running or working out. You can pack hundreds or thousands of songs into an MP3 player, but where do you put it when you want to exercise? Placing it in your pocket is one choice, but it can tug at your shorts and might even fall out. An armband case is an excellent solution that will keep your player secure and make it easier to access for control. Since it’s strapped directly to your body, your MP3 player also is much harder to misplace and less likely to be stolen. Shop for an armband case.

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Stream media to your Archos player

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comMany of us are familiar with the task of loading music and videos onto our portable media players. Not only can this be time consuming, but each song and video takes up precious drive space. If you own an Archos Internet Media Tablet (IMT), you have another option–streaming. Streaming allows the Archos IMT to directly play media from other computers located in your home network. Before you get started, you need to have Windows Media Player 11 or higher installed on your PC. Then, simply connect the Archos IMT to your home’s Wi-Fi network. Open Windows Media Player 11 on your PC, click on Library at the top of the window, and then click on Media Sharing. Check the box that says “Share my media to,” and choose the Archos IMT displayed in the list. Then click “Allow” and then “OK.” You can now access the content in your Windows Media Player library right on the Archos IMT. Just enter the Video, Music or Photo menu and select the “Network UPnP” item.

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Get extra juice for your iPod or iPhone

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comWe’ve all been there. You might be jamming to tunes, watching videos, or making a call to a friend. Out of nowhere, your iPod or iPhone goes dark and switches off. Dealing with a discharged battery isn’t a problem if you’re near a power source, but what if you’re not? Battery extenders provide an inexpensive and highly portable way to get hours of additional talk or playback time for your device. Just pre-charge the battery extender and slip it into your purse, pocket, or bag for extra power on the go. Shop for a battery extender or other power supply.

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Clean up those ID3 tags

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comTired of your MP3 player incorrectly labeling an artist, album, or song as “Unknown”? The issue lies in the ID3 tag, a piece of data embedded in each MP3 file that contains all of a song’s relevant information. Some software automatically fills in this information when you encode a CD into MP3 format, but most people will have at least a few false “Unknowns” in their digital music collection. You can change this information in iTunes by right-clicking a track, selecting “Get Info,” and then editing the Info tab. Also, a variety of free–or inexpensive–programs allow users to quickly and easily edit the ID3 tags of multiple MP3 files at once. These programs also can query online music databases to automatically fill in this information for you. TagScanner, Tag&Rename, and Mp3tag are all fully featured ID3 tag editors that can help end the tyranny of “Unknown.

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Implement parental control with iTunes

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comParents, do you know that it’s easy to make iTunes more kid-friendly by restricting access to potentially objectionable content? In iTunes, choose “Edit,” then “Preferences,” and then the “Parental Control” tab. This screen allows you to disable various iTunes functions like podcasts, radio, and even the iTunes store. You also can restrict access to explicit content in iTunes, as well as limit purchases to user-defined ratings levels. Once you’re finished, click on the lock icon to prevent your young ones from making changes to this screen. To unlock Parental Controls for future changes, just click on the lock icon again and enter your iTunes password.

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Protect your player with an in-car mount

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comDoes your MP3 player ride along with you during commutes? If so, an in-car mounting kit is a wise investment that can help protect your player and make it easier to control. They come in a variety of styles, and some are even available with integrated charging capabilities. Shop for a mounting kit.

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Control your GoGear Spark

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comConfused about navigating through the menus of the Philips GoGear Spark? This tiny player is scant on obvious buttons; however, the control scheme is very simple to learn. Just press on the edges of the display to scroll through menu items, and you’ll be listening to your tunes in no time.

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Keep your player on lock

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comIt can be easy to unintentionally skip tracks or even stop your player while being active. The often-ignored “hold” or “lock” switch is the answer if you find your music magically jumping around when you’re jogging, working out, or just commuting to work. On most players, this switch is located on one of the unit’s edges. Simply slide the switch to engage, and then slide it back when you’re ready to control the device again. Locking your player also can save battery life by preventing your player from accidentally turning on while stored in a purse, backpack, or pocket.

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Rip to MP3 format with Zune software

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comBy default, Zune software encodes music ripped from your own CDs in WMA format. Although this works well, the MP3 format is compatible with more devices and is essentially hassle-free. If you’d like the Zune software to use MP3 instead of WMA, open the Zune software, choose Options, then Rip, and then click on Format. From here, choose MP3, and then select your bitrate–192kbps offers a good balance of portability and sound quality.

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Commute with your tunes

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comLooking for an easy way to listen to your MP3s while driving? Consider using an FM transmitter. These devices plug into your MP3 player and use a tiny transmitter to broadcast music through your car’s FM radio. They are small, inexpensive, and set-up is a snap. Look for an FM transmitter.

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Find and remove duplicate songs in iTunes

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comIf you have a large iTunes library, you probably have a few duplicate songs in your collection. iTunes makes it easy to find and remove them. Just click on “File” at the top of the window, and then select “Show Duplicates.” From here, you can easily delete duplicates by selecting them and pressing the Delete key. Once you’re finished, click on the “Show All” button at the bottom of the iTunes window to return to your music library.

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Find your Amazon MP3 files

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comKnowing where your MP3s are stored on your computer is important when attempting to back up or burn your tunes. With Amazon MP3, it’s easy, especially when using the Amazon MP3 Downloader Application. By default, this Application stores downloaded music in the “My Music” folder on Windows, and in the “Music” folder on Macs. If you choose not to use the Downloader Application, the files will be saved to your Web browser’s default save location.

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Streamline your system tray

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comAttention iTunes users: if things are getting crowded in the area around your PC’s clock, you can remove the iTunes icon from your system tray. Open iTunes, click the Edit menu item at the top of the window, choose Preferences, and then click on the Advanced tab. At the bottom of this screen, uncheck the box next to the “Show iTunes icon in the system tray” item.

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Get informed with iTunes

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comiTunes can tell you how many times you’ve played or skipped a track, when a song was added to your library, what its bit-rate is, and much more. To view additional in-depth information for a single song, right-click it, and select “Get Info.” You also can customize the columns in your library list to display additional information. Just click on the “View” menu option at the top of iTunes, and then click on “View Options” to select the columns you want to see. And remember, the more organized and detailed your iTunes collection is, the more fun iQuiz will be.

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Keep your player clean

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comOver time, a portable player can pick up dust, lint, and all sorts of grime as it jostles around inside your pocket. Not only does this look bad, but it can scratch the display and potentially clog headphone and docking ports. It’s a good idea to periodically give your player and its protective case a gentle but thorough cleaning. A dry microfiber cloth works best for this, but any soft lint-free cloth will do. If your player is particularly dirty, barely dampen the cloth with dilute, ammonia-free window cleaner and wipe gently. Make sure all surfaces are completely dry before placing the PMP back into its case.

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SuperScroll your Philips GoGear

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.com
Owners of the newest generation of Philips GoGear players don’t have to wait around to browse through their music and video catalogs. Press the control surface gently to move through your playlist one item at a time, or press down firmly to quickly SuperScroll to the media you want. Shop for a Philips GoGear player.

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Boost volume and improve sound quality

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.com
Are you struggling to hear your music, even when the volume on your MP3 player is cranked to the maximum? A portable headphone amplifier can help. These small battery-powered devices boost overall volume and improve sound quality, and some models even provide equalization functionality. Shop for a portable headphone amplifier.

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Free up your hands

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.com
Being able to watch full TV shows and feature length movies on your player is great, but holding on to your player for extended periods of time can make your hands and wrists hurt. Consider a case with a built-in kickstand to prop up your player for extended viewing. Not only do they reduce fatigue, but they free your hands for other tasks. Shop for a case with a built-in kickstand.

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Split and share your music

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.com
Looking for an easy, inexpensive way to share your music with others? A headphone splitter lets you connect an extra pair of headphones to your portable player so you can rock out with your friends. Some models, like the Belkin Rockstar (shown), even let you share tunes with up to four other people. Shop for a headphone splitter.

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Save your battery

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comApart from lowering the screen brightness and volume, there are a few other ways to maximize your player’s battery life. If your player is equipped with Wi-Fi capability, turn it off if you’re not actively using it. Also, fully power down the device instead of allowing it to go into Sleep Mode. Owners of hard-drive-based players can save significant battery life by using playlists instead of manually skipping through tracks. Finally, stick to audio–playing video is the fastest way to zap juice.

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Shrink MP3 file size with variable bitrate

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comMany MP3s are encoded at a constant bitrate (CBR). This means that uncomplicated passages of music take up as much room as complex ones. Consider choosing a variable bitrate (VBR) the next time you rip a CD into MP3 format. Doing so will allocate fewer bits to the parts of your music that are less complex, saving you precious drive space.

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Open Pandora’s Box

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comiPod touch owners can listen to their own free personalized streaming radio station with the Pandora Radio application. It requires a Wi-Fi connection and is a great way to discover new music. iPhone users can join in the fun as well. Just touch the App Store icon on your device and then search for Pandora Radio.

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Upgrade your Zune

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comMicrosoft recently released its 3.0 update for all current Zune devices. It adds several important new features, including Buy from FM, wireless sync, and more. Check out the Zune player detail pages for more information.

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Keep your screen pristine

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comConsider purchasing disposable screen protectors for your portable player. They’re inexpensive, easy to apply, and will keep you from kicking yourself if you drop your MP3 player in the same pocket as your keys.

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Fast-forward and rewind content

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comMost portable devices allow you to fast-forward and rewind music and video. Just hold down the “skip forward” or “skip back” button to scan through your content.

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Keep your player charged

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comMost MP3 players can recharge from any compatible USB port, not just the one on your home or work computer. Look for open USB ports on monitors, keyboards, printers, and media centers when you’re in a pinch and need a charge.

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Eliminate scratchy MP3s

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comDo your MP3s sound scratchy or warbly? Encode them from your CDs at a bit-rate higher than 128kbps to minimize annoying sound artifacts.

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Ensure music compatibility

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comIf you have more than one brand of portable player in your household, try to purchase music files in MP3 format. MP3s are compatible with virtually all digital players, and they do not need to be converted to a different format to play properly.

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Stop iPhone speaker interference

MP3 Player Tip of the Week at Amazon.comIs speaker interference from your iPhone driving you crazy? Place your iPhone face-up on a square of aluminum foil to cut back on unwanted warbles and buzzing.

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Extending the battery life

To extend your MP3 player’s battery life, lower the screen brightness and turn down the volume. Brightness settings can be found in the setup or options screen of your player.

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Keep the software up to date

Remember to keep your MP3 player’s firmware and software up to date. Manufacturers often add new features and wider compatibility to existing devices through updates that you can get from their websites.

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Use the FM radio at the gym

Attention gym regulars: you can use the FM radio built into many MP3 players to tune into the audio portion of your club’s television system.

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Share your music

If you want to share your music with others, or just want to listen without headphones, consider purchasing a small portable speaker system for your MP3 player.

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Block out external noise

Tired of hearing jet engine noise when you’re flying? A pair of noise-cancelling headphones or sound-isolating earbuds can block out unwanted sound. Check out our selection or read through our Headphone Help Guide for more information.

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Shut down your Zune quickly

Hate waiting for your Zune to power off? Press and hold “down” on the Zune Pad and then hold down the Back button. This skips the Sleep period and immediately turns off the player.

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Use your player for file storage

Use your iPod as a storage device. Start iTunes and select “Enable Disk Usage” in the properties screen of your iPod. You now can access your iPod just like a regular hard drive under the My Computer screen for PCs, or Find screen for Macs.

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