MP3 digital music. Have you converted yet?

It’s like another language for many moms and dads across the country as the kids request their Christmas or birthday gifts in a new language called gobbledygook. Or at least that’s how it sounds to us when our 12 year old son asks for things like; Creative Labs Zen Micro MP3 player, or the Sony MP3 player 1 GB, then there’s the MP3 player Muvo Micro N200, and the slightly more comprehensible Sony Network Walkman MP3. Okay, so we’re not that switched on when it comes to digital toys or fashion accessories, but we have managed to grasp a bit or knowledge on this MP3 digital music malarkey, which I’ll try to explain to all the other befuddled parents out there.

It appears that MP3 digital music is one of the most popular forms for music to take these days. Digital music just seems to make sense, and is a natural step forward in the music world today. Everything else is digital these days, why wouldn’t our music be?

While music is still purchased in the form of CDs, it is very often converted into MP3 digital music for use on a computer or an MP3 player. Indeed, sometimes it seems like CD players are all but obsolete now, and I almost never use mine anymore since the lad got us into MP3 digital music. However, it is nice to have music backed up on CDs, and I try to keep my CD collection current even if I’m not listening to them directly very much. I have a sort of inherent distrust of computers and all things purely digital, and I’m just waiting for my digital music players to explode one day.

MP3 players have a lot of nice advantages to them over CDs. First of all, they are of course much smaller. Most MP3 players can easily fit into your pocket, unlike bulky CD players. Even the smallest portable CD player is enormous compared to the average MP3 player. Also, MP3 digital music can be stored on a hard drive of an MP3 player or computer, and so no CDs are needed. You can load up all the MP3 digital music you want on your computer, and never have to worry about losing or scratching any of it. Once I grasped these advantages it became apparent that ignorance is not always bliss, and if it wasn’t for our son keeping us up to date with it all, we’d still be in the dark ages when it comes to digital technology.

One of the most popular portable digital music players today is Apple’s iPod, and since it’s made by Apple it just has to be different. Therefore it does not use the MP3 digital music files other players use, and instead uses its own spiffy Apple format exclusive to iPods. As an owner of both an MP3 player and an iPod, this fact continuously frustrates me, as it is nothing short of a pain in the backside to transfer music from one player to the other.

MP3 digital music is also of a fairly small file size, which is handy. My laptop has a 120 GB hard drive on it, and I can fit my entire music collection on it in the MP3 digital music format without making a dent in the overall space available. The MP3 digital music format poses some serious threats to the music industry, as it is so easy to share and pass around.

There, I hope that’s been a useful introduction into MP3 digital music for you. It’s not as techie as it sounds and once you get your music collection digitalized you’ll find there’s no easier way to arrange and listen to your music collection.