Having Fun With MP3's

I would say that I've entered the 1990s with regards to music, but I see that Napster didn't get started until 1999. So, I might not be as far behind the trend as I think.

Anyway, for my birthday last month, I got a new stereo. My previous stereo was a gift from my mother about 15 years ago. It was a fine stereo in its time, but a new one was needed. Other than the very basic stuff that you'd expect to come standard in a radio, there were a few things I was looking for, stuff that most people would probably consider to be "basic" anyway. These were:

• A "line in" option to be able to beam my Launchcast station to it over my RCA Lyra wireless unit.
• A remote control.
• A CD changer that held more than one CD.
• A CD player that played MP3 files.

I added that last requirement without knowing what I would do with it. However, I have learned how cool MP3's can be. I ended up getting a Sony CMT-HPX system. I'm not much of an audiophile, but it seems OK to me. One problem I saw with it was that if I would put the maximum of 5 CDs in the unit, it would still repeat songs on shuffle play more frequently than I would like. This is largely remedied by the power of the MPs.

With MP3s, I'm able to copy my meagre CD collection to MP3s on my computer, and then burn CDs containing these files to be played on my stereo. What's so cool about it is that (with an MP3 compression rate of 160 kpbs) I can fit ten or more albums onto one MP3 CD, and still be satisfied with the resulting sound quality. I can pop one of these into the Sony, put it on shuffle play, and get a lot fewer repeats.

So now I'm working on copying my CD collection to MP3s.

Depending on your level of experience and interest in this area, you're probably thinking one of two things:

• Yes, this all is obvious. What took you so long? Or,
  
• I don't really know what you're talking about.

In any event, I think it's kind of cool.

Currently playing on Launchcast: "Space Oddity" by Natalie Merchant. (What? Did anyone else do that song?)