Thursday, October 28, 2004

Music to go


For people who don't yet own a hard drive based mp3 player - this post is for you. A while back I decided to buy one of these babies. I decided against the iPod and went for the Creative Labs Zen. It was cheaper than the iPod and has exquisite sound. With 20GB of storage space, you can fit a lot of songs on it (4000+). I just put the thing on random play and if a song comes on that I'm not in the mood for, I just skip to the next song. I love listening to it at work, but it's in the car that the Zen has revolutionized my music enjoyment. Whenever Darlene and I would go on long car trips, we'd rarely come to an agreement on what CDs to bring for tunes. Now with the Zen, we bring everything! To interface the Zen with the car stereo, I bought an iRock FM transmitter. This just plugs into the headphone jack of the Zen and broadcasts the music on one of 4 selectable FM frequencies. The Zen's battery lasts about 8-10 hours, so it's good for a whole day of driving. The iRock runs on 2 replaceable AAAs which are good for about 2 days' worth of driving.
Update: I bought a newer Zen in January 2005. $170 cheaper than the original, 24 hour battery capacity and smaller, more iPod-looking case. The software is better too.

So if you're into music as much as I am but hate having to choose what tunes to bring on trips, or to work - consider the Zen as an option. Posted by Hello

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