Tuesday, May 14, 2013

MY NEW MP3 PLAYER

While doing my laps around the local high school's track, I noticed a lady with an Ipod or Iphone.  I didn't get close enough to her to notice which one.  When I heard a voice come out of it saying something and then a beep went off and her saying, "Ok, I'll start walking."  Me, being the gadget gal I am and as curious as I am, went on line to find out what program she might have had on her Ipod/Iphone. 

Sure enough, I found a free, they said, but really after two months you had to pay a monthly fee for it app.  Of course, I couldn't download it and it was only to be used with an Ipod/Iphone/Ipad.  These devices are really expensive and I wasn't about to go out and purchase one, but I did look into getting an MP3 player before, but wanted to get my new smartphone before that so I could have everything with me while on a walk/run.

I couldn't find a walk/run program similar to the one that the lady on the track had, except one, which you couldn't listen to upfront but could download it to an MP3 player.  So I went shopping for a MP3 player. 

I saw one on line which had all of the features I really would need and then some.  It even recorded video and you could also load e-books, although with the small screen it had, I don't think I'd do that.  It also had a camera and an FM radio.  It was only $20, but is really cute and it came in red.  I got it.  It also had a lot of songs already loaded on it and a few videos.  So I got it, took it home, read the instructions, set it up to my liking and went on a walk/run yesterday. 

The FM radio worked pretty good.  There were a lot of trees on the trail I went on, so I lost the connection a bit along the way, but all in all, for such a small, light MP3 player, I thought for just this radio alone was a great purchase.  I also thought, in case of emergency I could tune into this radio for emergency news on the radio.

I then tried the already loaded music.  The first song was kind of a punk rock song.  You know, the pounding for some of the song, but parts of the song were really kind of nice.  Soothing and kind of lifting to the spirit as I walked along.  I even did some skipping, side stepping and a little dancing as I walked/ran along.  Some of the songs were at different tempos which I used to time the speeds of my walk or run, depending on the tempo of the music.  It was great fun and the time went by so quickly as I walked/ran along with my new MP3 player.

Usually, I like to walk/run along without anything blaring in my ears, just with my thoughts and to clear my head, watch people walking/running/biking by.  But maybe being a new toy, I was caught up in the various things that can be done.  Before I knew it, I had gone 45 minutes before turning back to my car. 

One thing I did notice though, I was so in tuned with the player, that I didn't notice things or people around that much.  I was so engrossed as to what the music was saying or the people on the radio were saying, that I kind of was oblivious as to what was going on around me.  Yes, I was in another world, a different kind of world while walking/running on the trail.  I don't know if that's a good thing or not.  I knew to keep as far right on the trail as possible so others could pass if I couldn't hear them.  Sometimes I was able to hear people or bikes coming behind me, but once a guy came running behind me and it kind of startled me.

This nice, little gadget also came with a 4G micro card in it, so that will be enough memory to load plenty of songs on it.  So, until I get my smartphone in July, this little device will suffice.  Too bad it doesn't have an economical phone in it along with a GPS or ability to load Google maps and I'd be set.  All of that will have to wait until July when my current cell phone service will be ending.

There was even a little video showing how to load music or videos on to the device.  How nice, since I've never used this kind of device to upload music on.  This MP3 player is very easy to use and to get to different modes.  It's light, small and I used an old cell phone case which clips on to my waistband to carry it in and then I wrap my keys around that, so my hands are completely free of carrying anything while I walk/run.

I'll be using it again today, checking out the rest of the many other songs which came already loaded on to it.

No comments: