MP3 is a compression standard for digital audio. There are varying degrees of quality but generally the higher the quality, the higher the file size. Its generally excepted that MP3's don't provide the quality of, say, CD's but it is certainly listenable and because of the file size, it can be quickly transferred onto portable MP3 players.
You can convert CD's that you own
to MP3 file by "ripping" the CD. Windows media (supplied with OS systems like XP) can do this for you. The resulting file conversion can then be transferred to MP3 players. You can also download music from the www in mp3 format.
You can calculate how much space you need for an MP3 player thus save a bit of money by not going OTT on the memory. Roughly 1mb = 1 minute of song. A single track or song (about 4mins) equals roughly 4 mb. Therefore to put 100 songs on a mp3 player, you will need 400mb.
Mp3 players usually come in sizes like ram memory (128mb; 256; 512; 1gb etc) so you need to buy the nearest available size for the songs you want to put on. In our example, 400 mb will mean a 512mb player.
MP3 players are like hard drives and usually have a USB plugin method. Once plugged in to your computer USB port, it acts like another drive and you can then transfer files from computer to mp3 player. You can also delete etc.
Hope this helps
Pablo
