Tech Blog: MP3 Mania

“No Music. No Life.” was Tower Records’ catch phrase. I was pleased when I first saw this. I think life without music is dull. Music is the best companion when traveling, reading, while working, doing your chores, in almost everything we do (except of course when sleeping, hehe, though I know some who listen to soothing music to help get a good sleep). Music may either set our moods or ride our moods. Observe how others get easily exasperated after listening to heavy metal sounds. And notice why spa houses plays classical or nature-like sounds.

Different people have different preferences in terms of the music genre they tune in to. My ears accept almost all types of music but heavy metal (although there was a time that I got hooked in this kind of music, which I now consider noise as I was unable to concentrate when I hear them, hehe). I used to collect audio CDs since I started working. When I acquired my MD player (my first smallest music player - Y2003), I began ripping all my favorite songs into it to avoid carrying all those CDs with me. Songs are converted to ATRAC3 files (Sony’s proprietary file type for compressed digital music). Though MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3) was already famous back then, I still preferred to rip audio CDs than download music online -- after my computer got infected by virus! grrr :)

I think MP3s started to evolve dramatically when Apple introduced the IPOD player (which is now by far the most favored music player – kudos to Apple!). They even went past Creative’s line of MP3 players. As manufacturers relentlessly compete to gain the “best MP3 player” title, many individual (music-lover alike) are having wide range of players to choose from. You’ll get a hard time deciding on which to buy if you have budget constraint. And if you’re after the features, you’ll somehow get confused on which would be the ‘good buy’.

In today’s generation, music players are now termed ‘MP3 Players’. There are even pens, eyeglasses, watches, digicams, and mobile phones that are solely designed for mp3 aficionados.

c",)