OK - I'm fed up with my CDs sticking - someone tell me all I need to know about MP3 players please

[BigBadMousey]

Time I dragged myself into this century I guess.

I just want to be able to store and play music on it, play it through my car stereo and listen to music while I'm working out so don't really need anything fancy, but I would need to be able to store quite a lot of tracks.

Can I transfer music from my CDs over onto one and if so how?

Can you backup your music files?

I have a rather limited budget and I don't want to have to update to something else again for a while.

Please enlighten me

bump - where are all the geeks when you need them?

Problem is, this is not geeky stuff any more, it is totally mainstream!

Any ipod/mp3 player will do what you want, so if budget is a restriction let that be your guide. Take a look at PC world or wherever, pick an iPod nano or even shuffle, or foｒ　ａ　ｂｉｔ　ｍｏｒｅ&# 12288;ｆｌｅｘｉｂｉｌｉｔｙ&#1228 8;ｃｈｏｏｓｅ　ａ　ｎｏｎ&# 65293;Ａｐｐｌｅ　ｍｐ３　ｐ&#6535 6;ａｙｅｒ　（Ｃｒｅａｔｉ&# 65366;ｅ　ａｒｅ　ａ　ｇｏｏ&#6534 8;　ｂｒａｎｄ）．

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This is what I suspected . Thing is we are a bit out in the sticks - if I asked people in my hamlet what an MP3 player was I think only 1 person would have any idea!

Tis nice to let technology pass you by in the main, but when it comes to music I have to draw the line!

That said....what on earth did you do to the last bit of your post?

To store quite a lot of tracks you just need more memory. I'm not sure how much music you get per Gigabyte. This suggests 500 songs per GigaBtye?

To transfer music from your CDs to an MP3 player, you first need to convert it to MP3 format. There is loads of free software to do that. Once the music is in MP3 format you can just plug the MP3 player into the USB port (cables should be supplied) and copy the music files on and off in the same way that you would normally copy files.

Fantastic - thats a great help, thanks. Really didn't fancy having to buy all my music again so knowing all my stuff can be transferred over is a big incentive.

what I tried to say was:

ipods (which are made by Apple) use iTunes software which will convert your cd's - this is called ripping, and iTunes makes this fairly easy. But by default it doesn't use the mp3 format, it uses apple's own. This makes backing up your files a bit tricky (although if you are only ripping your own CDs you have these as back up anyway).

For a bit more flexibility and lower cost, but a bit less style and ease of use, choose a non-Apple mp3 player. Creative is a good brand. These also come with software that will rip CDs and transfer them to the player, and will store mp3 files on your computer that you can back up by copying wherever you want.

Playing in your car depends on your car stereo. Does it have an AUX input? If not, there is no really satisfactory way to attach any player.

500 tracks or 50 CDs per GB is about right at the default level of compression most players use, which is OK quality.

Sorry about my technical slip - i had been drinking, but didn't realise it was affecting my keyboard as well!

Thanks

Whatever you were drinking must have been good! Got any left for a harrassed mum?

Car stereo apparently is MP3 compatible but will look through the manual just to check whats what - my car is really just a travelling stereo anyway

I saw a Goodmans MP3 player with 4GB storage for £15 last week - is that a good buy do you think?

iPod's are fab and i would strongly recommend them.
although a bit expensive mine has been brilliant and very easy to use.

I also have these speakers
cgi.ebay.co.uk/iRhythms-A302-White-IPOD-DOCK-SPEAKERS-UK-FREE-P-P_W0QQitemZ250276740341QQcmdZViewIte m?hash=item250276740341&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

these have a brilliant sound, much better than many others on the market.

I don't think an MP3 compatible stereo is one which works with an MP3 player. I think it allows you to play data CDs containing music in MP3 format. The advantage is that MP3 is very compressed compared to a regular CD track, so you can fit a lot more music on 1 CD.

Ah, yes, you could well have a point there - I have some MP3 / WMA files on a CD that my dad gave me - car stereo plays those quite happily...damn! Will look for an aux input....