Take the music with you

By Kushal Dave

Searching the Internet or the Network Neighborhood for mp3's (Motion Picture Experts Group audio, layer 3) has become second nature to many Yalies, but for the most part their music has remained bridled to their desktops. While there is no way that is both easy, high-quality, and cheap for bringing those favorite dance tunes — the ones you would never pay for — on a run, there are a variety of options along the ease-quality-price continuum.

Contender 1: Casette tape

Cost: $50 Quality: Analog Features: Can switch to radio Duration: up to two hours, tape easily switched Ease of use: Medium
PHOTO COURTESY SONY

The el cheapo option is to record from the speaker jack of your computer into a walkman that can record. Walkmen that record start at around fifty dollars, but many students already own them for recording lectures. The only needed accessory is a cable that has a male headphone jack on each end, available for a few dollars Radio Shack. Another option is to record the sound from your computer's speakers to the walkman's microphone, but this verges on the pathetic.

Contender 2: Good CD player and a good CD burner

Cost: $200 for the burner (more for a SCSI card for a laptop), $150 for a good CD player Quality: CD quality, but may skip Features: Ability to switch tracks Duration: 74 minutes, somewhat inconvenient to swap CD's Ease of use: Difficult
PHOTO COURTESY SONY

The cool thing about a CD burner is that it has lots of other uses, such as illegally copying software to accompany illegal copying of music. CDs can be played on regular CD players and have high quality, which is nice, but recording is a hassle, often resulting in errors, and at the very least involves conversion of mp3's to wave files. Furthermore, each new mix requires a new CD, and CDs are bulky and easily scratched.

Contender 3: The infamous mp3 player

Cost: $49 and up Quality: Near CD quality Features: Switching tracks, title display, small, light, ease of changing music selection Duration: 30 minutes, can increase by lowering quality or buying $100 card Ease of use: Simple
PHOTO COURTESY DIAMOND MULTIMEDIA

"For 49 bucks, it's a good deal," explained Charles Forelle, PC '02. Forelle is a recent purchaser of a Diamond Rio, the first product on the market in this genre. "It's quite brilliant actually...The parallel port interface is convenient, the software is easy to use, and the sound quality is uniformly excellent. It's also light." He added, "My one complaint is that I wish it had a little more storage space. They claim it gives you an hour, but that's a lie."

"It's not that solidly built, but it's not like a CD player where there's a fragile laser in there. There are no moving parts to break," Forelle went on to say. "It's good for walks up Science Hill — it gets me up and down Science Hill pretty easily."

Of course, there are alternatives to the Rio, which, though more expensive, offer greater storage, more functionality, greater reliability, radios, electronic address books, audio recording, and battery life.

Other issues to consider include the fact that any music from your regular CD collection would have to be converted to mp3 and then stored.

Contender 4: Minidisc

Cost: $175 and up Quality: Near CD quality Features: Switching tracks, title display, minimal skipping, small, light, cheap discs Duration: An hour each Ease of use: Medium
PHOTO COURTESY SONY
The minidisc (MD) has a greater versatility than an mp3 player, but this comes at the expense of skipping. Recording mp3s to MD is a hassle akin to recording onto a casette tape. Still, some people swear by it while others think MDs will lose eventually.

A bonus is that albums can be purchased as minidiscs. Unlike CDs, MDs can be rewritten, and the cheap cost per disc is a big bonus.

Contender 5: Silence

Cost: Free Quality: Crystal Clear Features: Ability to concentrate Duration: Infinite Ease of the use: Impossible in Yale dorms
PHOTO COURTESY CDNOW

Silence is sort of boring. We don't recommend it.

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