Guy’s Guide: Take Your Music Digital

It’s hard to live in the modern world without gadgets.  Computers, mobile phones, MP3 players, games consoles… our homes and lives are full of little bundles of technical joy. That also means we have to figure out how to use them. How you handle your music collection has been forever changed by digital technology. It’s no longer a matter of organizing the shelves in your den alphabetically by artist while periodically dusting them. (If you have rare imports on vinyl or mini discs because you love the sound quality then high five yourself, hang on to what you’ve got, because you sound like a cultured gent.) But for the rest of us, if we haven’t already, we’re going to have to face the facts about how to handle our music collections — both for storage and listening — in a way that finally fits the lifestyle of the new millennium.

This doesn’t don’t have to be difficult. If you like listening to music and just want the simplest way to do so, then read on.

Chances are you have picked up a few CDs along the way. The first thing I would recommend is to not to get rid of them. Trust me. It’s always worth having a physical backup of your favourite album because it may come in handy some day. Like when, for example, your hard disc crashes and you haven’t backed up your PC in a while, (which is something many of us have learned though painful experience.)

The first thing you need to do is also the most time consuming: copy all  of your music onto an external storage device like a portable hard drive. The size and cost of this device may vary depending on how much music you have, but as a rough guide my 300 odd albums work out as 27 gigabytes of storage space. This means that most likely you can get away with something in the region of 250 gigabyte disc which shouldn’t cost you the earth.  The main advantage of this is that it gives you portability. You can take that music collection to any device you choose without being limited to (for example) just being able to play your music via iTunes.

How do you play your music now that you’re no longer tethered to your CDs? You’ve got a few options:

PC or laptop
This also applies to any netbook’s or tablets pc’s you have, (excluding iPhones or iPads which we will get to later). If you don’t want to do anything fancy this is your best option. Simply plug the storage device in and copy the music onto your PC and Windows Media player will do the rest. If you have a decent set of speakers on your machine then this option is as good as having a separate music system in the room.

‏If you are feeling more adventurous‭ (‬or just hate Windows‭) ‬then there are a number of music playing software packages available to buy or download that will do the same job.‭ ‬Have a look around‭ (‬or talk to few friends‭) ‬to see which one will suit you best,‭ ‬but at the end of the day they all do the same thing‭: ‬play your music on a PC.‭  ‬Here’s a little perk about going digital: most media players will automatically download the track names and album covers of any albums you play on them,‭ ‬which saves having to do it all manually. See? This project isn’t so bad after all.

Games Consoles
These guys have come along way since the days of Pong and Space Invaders. Most games consoles nowadays are also home entertainment systems, which means you can use them to play music as well as kill your friends online. All three of the big guns, Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, have the ability to play music. However, the Xbox 360 and the PS3 also come with a huge amount of storage space so you can, as with a PC, copy your music collection on to them.

Both the 360 and PS3 are pretty straightforward to both copy music across and navigate it once you have done so. In fairness, the menus are a little basic and can be a little frustrating if, for example, you want fast access to a song or an album. But this option exists, and might be what you want if your entertainment life seems to be more centralized around your favorite gaming system.

iTunes
If you are a dedicated Mac user then you can skip this part. You guys know what you’re doing but as our next option is Mp3 players we can’t talk about that without first touching on iTunes.

The main thing to remember with any Apple product be it iPod, iPhone or iPad is that you need to use iTunes to do pretty much anything. I’m sorry to say it can be a bit of a minefield to start with. In fact a how to use iTunes would be a guide in itself. Even the most tech-savvy get frustrated trying to work out how to do certain things. Our best advice is to just install it. Don’t try to cheat the system and find a workaround unless you want to spend hours searching tech forums on the internet. Just let Apple do its thing and befriend someone who is an Apple nut, because they all love demonstrating their skills.

Mobile devices
As walking down any street will tell you most phones play music these days, this replacement to the Walkman or Discman works fine. They all easy connect to a PC or laptop and they all have simple menus to navigate. Choosing the right mobile phone is a guide unto itself, but if you want to use your phone as your main way to rock out, your biggest concern would be the amount of storage available on the device. The only downside to this, unless you are using an iPhone, is that you don’t have a lot of storage on most of them. And in fact, the largest capacity on an iPhone at present is 32 Gigabytes. Keep this in mind: if you have movies and apps on the phone as well, and you probably will, your phone probably won’t hold all your music.

MP3 players
There is a huge amount of choice here, more than just the obvious iPod/iPhone option. Creative, for example, does a great line in Mp3 players as do Sony. It’s well worth doing a bit of research before buying one. Go online, ask what your friends have used, and see what will suit you best. Usability is by far the most important function to any portable device and that is a matter of trial and error.

Docking Stations
This applies if you’re using a portable MP3 player (iPhone, iPod, or otherwise) as your main storage device for your music. The main advantage of a Docking station is that not only can the right one look very sexy, but it allows you to keep your music portable. You only have to plug it into the speakers when you want to, and when you do, you have a damn fine music system.

Choosing one can be a bit overwhelming. The best way to make your choice is to take your Mp3 player along to the electronics store and plug it in to the display models. This way you will get a chance to see what it sounds like as well as how it looks. I did this in several different stores, with good dozen or so models, before making my choice and I had a rough idea of what I wanted before I went in. Take your time when choosing one. I would recommend picking one made by a manufacturer that has a history of making music systems, someone like JBL, Bose or Sony.

Just remember the single best advice anyone can give you with technology is to weigh up all the options first and not just jump straight in because something looks cool. This is advice from a man who bought and got stuck with a Mini Disk player, so trust me. It’s good advice.