Ok, despite that fact that all I really do with my computer is play a massive collection of Mp3s (and surf SDMB of course), I have never felt the need for a portable Mp3 player. Therefore I know bugger-all about them, even though I would like to know everything just for the sake of knowing it.
Now my mother wants to get my sister one for christmas, and I’m being asked questions. (I’m the designated ‘computer person’ or my house - which I’m not totally qualified to be! I’m just the only one who knows anything at all about them. Don’t know what my parents are thinking getting my sister an Mp3 player, everything else with more technology in it than a hinge breaks as soon as she so much as looks at it…oh well)
Anyway, which clever doper can tell me what this ‘digital encoding’ is. One player she wants has this function, but a player she likes better in other ways ( probably visual…sigh. ‘Go for function!’ ) does not seem to have it. What is it and what makes having better than not having it?
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I think your sister (or you, for that matter) might want to check out a CD/MP3 player. They play both audio CD’s and home-burnt CD’s containing MP3’s…so it’s essentially the best of both worlds.
Hello, Frank. (I have called you Frank.) I actually suggested that, (mainly coz I think they’re pretty neat and hoped I might be able to coerce a lend of it out of her now and again), but she’s really just going for the snazziest looking one she can get, because ‘it’s cool’ to have one. All her friends have them etc etc. She doesn’t even play Mp3s on a computer. This christmas present is just a rung on her social ladder. Which is why I’m a little annoyed that they’re fussing so much about the technology of the thing. Just get the one that screams ‘fashionable!’, she is deaf to cries of ‘efficient!’
Hmmm, this is becoming a pit thread on my sister. That’s a little mean, lol.
Anyway, thanks Frank, if that is your real name , and I’m sure some other doper will know what digital encoding means.
My semi-educated guess is that “digital encoding” refers to some kind of function that enables CDs (or actually WAV or AIFF files ripped from CDs) to be encoded to the MP3 format within the player. Usually the encoding to a MP3 file happens on the computer and you then transfer that file to the player.
I am not too impressed, because you are going to need to use the computer to rip the CD anyway. Why pay for a function the computer probably does faster?
The things that matter with MP3 players are size, weight, memory amount, user interface (how easy is it do navigate and use the thing), battery life, data manipulation, cost, and coolness.
, and I’m sure some other doper will know what digital encoding means.