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A Compact Disc (CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data,
originally developed for storing digital audio. The CD, available on the
market in late 1982, remains the standard physical medium for commercial
audio recordings as of 2006. An audio compact disc consists of one or
more stereo tracks stored using 16-bit PCM coding at a sampling rate of
44.1 kHz. Standard compact discs have a diameter of 120 mm or 80 mm. The
120 mm discs can hold approximately 80 minutes of audio. The 80 mm
discs, sometimes used for CD singles, hold approximately 20 minutes of
audio. Compact disc technology was later adapted for use as a data
storage device, known as a CD-ROM, and to include record-once and
re-writable media (CD-R and CD-RW). CD-ROMs and CD-Rs remain widely used
technologies in the personal-computer industry as of 2006. The CD and
its extensions have been extremely successful: in 2004, the annual
worldwide sales of CD-Audio, CD-ROM, and CD-R reached about 30 billion
discs.
Now that you can buy movies from the iTunes Store and sync them to
your iPod, the whole world is your theater. With the Apple 80 GB iPod
with Video Playback in hand, those movies fit comfortably next to TV
shows, new iPod games, pod casts, audio books, photo albums, and, of
course, an entire library of music--up to 20,000 songs. How much can
your pocket hold? That's up to you and your iPod, but no matter how you
organize it, the iPod holds loads of songs and plenty of hours of video.
Your iPod library can now contain new iPod games and feature films.
The same great iPod interface and ease of use that goes great in any
hand.
With all your music at your fingertips, you may never want to stop
listening. Lucky thing your iPod plays audio for hours and hours, or if
you'd rather watch, you can feast your eyes on movies and TV shows for
several hours without draining your battery. And you can count on the
iPod to help you pack light. It is almost hard to explain exactly how 80
GB of storage can fit into an iPod that's the same size as the 60 GB
model before it. However it happened, it means you can carry more music
and video absolutely anywhere you go. And with a 60-percent brighter
screen, the vibrant display gives your album art, photos, and video
extra oomph. As always, iPod makes finding what you want to hear a
breeze. Plus, a new interface lets you search your iPod using the
patented Click Wheel. And if you're a fan of live albums, classical
works, or anything that sounds best when it is played continuously, iPod
supports gapless playback that seamlessly transitions from one song to
another.
Music, Movies and TV Shows
Finding and playing music on your iPod is simple. Use the Click Wheel to
adjust volume, navigate songs, or browse the Music menu by artists,
composer, album, song, genre, or play list. Want to mix things up? Simply
click Shuffle Songs. iPod makes your music look as good as it sounds,
thanks to its big, bright color display. Album art appears alongside
your songs in the Now Playing screen, so you can see your music as you
play it. After all, iPod loves music as much as you do.
Now you can watch a movie while waiting in line for tickets to one.
Download movies from the iTunes Store, then sync them to your iPod to
watch anywhere, anytime. The iPod's gorgeous display--now 60-percent
brighter--makes your movies pop. And thanks to improved video playback
time, iPod keeps you entertained for several hours--even longer if you
reduce brightness using the new brightness control.
As for television programs, there's always something good on iPod.
Browse thousands of episodes of your favorite TV shows on the iTunes
Store, buy them for just a couple dollars each, then sync them to your
iPod. Watch last night's episodes this morning, or buy a whole TV series
and settle in for a pocket-size marathon. All your TV episodes display
in order, so you can navigate them easily, and every episode you buy
from iTunes is optimized to look great on the iPod's crystal-clear, 320
x 240-pixel display.
Pod casts, Audio books, Games, and Photos
The iTunes Store features thousands of free pod casts--radio-type shows
you subscribe to--including indie favorites and offerings from big names
such as, ABC News, Comedy Central, ESPN, PBS, NPR, and many more. Browse
and subscribe to pod casts, then sync them to your iPod and listen
anytime. Even video pod casts sync to go, and all your pod casts appear in
their own menu on your iPod, so they're easy to navigate.
The iPod measures up nicely.
The iTunes Store is the bridge between your iPod and all the content
your heart desires.
The digital shelves of the iTunes Store are stocked with thousands of
audio books, including such exclusives as the entire Harry Potter series.
Download what you want, sync to your iPod and catch up on your reading
the audio way. Just like pod casts, you can browse audio books in their
own menu on your iPod. And your iPod automatically recognizes where you
left off reading and bookmarks your place, so it is easy to dive back
into the story. You can even change the reading speed to suit you--this
is a perfect feature for learning a new language.
Now that the iTunes Store features iPod games, you can keep hours of fun
at your fingertips. Download brand-new and classic games, including
Bejeweled, Texas Hold 'Em, Vortex, Mahjong, Mini Golf, Pac-Man, Tetris,
and Zuma, for just a few dollars each, then sync them to your iPod and
play along with your favorite tunes. All iPod games from the iTunes
Store are designed specifically for the fifth-generation iPod, and all
of them look great on the 2.5-inch color display.
If you can fill your iPod with photos, then you've got a ton of images
at your disposal. iPod holds tens of thousands of photos that you can
sync from your Mac or Windows PC via iTunes. Use the Click Wheel to
scroll through photo thumbnails the same way you scroll through song
titles. To see a photo full-screen, just click the center button. You
can even view photo slideshows--complete with music--on your iPod or on
a TV via the optional iPod Video/Photo AV Cable. Select Slideshow
Settings, choose the transition effect and the music, and then start the
show.
Search, Settings, and Extras
With thousands of songs, audio books, and more on your iPod, you need an
easy way to search and enjoy your collection. A brand-new, built-in
search function lets you use the Click Wheel to type out the name of the
song, artist, album, audio book, or pod cast you're looking for, and your
iPod returns results instantly as you select letters--finding what you
want couldn't be easier.
The fifth-generation iPod lets you customize menus, check capacity,
change your language, change how your iPod sounds, and more, all from
the easy-to-use Setting menu. Click About to see how many songs are on
your iPod and how much room you have left. Click Main Menu to select
what items appear in your Main Menu, tweak the built-in equalizer, or
set a maximum volume limit--everything you need to personalize your iPod,
from backlight timer to clicker sound effects, appears in Settings.
And, lastly, your iPod is loaded with extras. Everything from calendars,
contacts, and the World Clock appear in the Extras menu, along with a
few more handy items. Take the Screen Lock, for example. Spin the Click
Wheel to choose a four-digit combination and protect your iPod from
prying eyes. If you forget your combo, you can reset it at your next
sync. Or use the built-in stopwatch to log your best times at the gym.
And when it's finally time to play, the Extras menu lists all your
games, including the ones you purchase from the iTunes Store.
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Being somewhat of an audiophile, I went researching for a good pair of
headphones. I was looking at the product lines from Sennheiser,
Beyer dynamic, Grado, Shure, and Etymotic.
I considered what I wanted these headphones for and it was to study in
places like starbucks or barnes and nobles. So naturally, I decided on
sound isolating headphones. This left me with either closed full-size
over the ear headphones or ear buds. If you haven't seen them, full-size
headphones are huge! They pretty much cover the entire sides of your
head, we're talking Princess Leah hair buns (star wars). Besides that,
the higher quality headphones require an additional portable amplifier
to sound good because most portable devices aren't powerful enough to
drive them.
Now I focused on ear buds. After reading review upon review about Shure
and Etymotic, I would always come across reference to Koss "The Plug"
and Sony's isolating ear buds (forgot the model) from an audio forum. Out
of the box, the Sony is supposed to be better than the Koss model.
However, what I found was that for a fraction of the price of Shure and
Etymotic brands (I think the top model is $500) and a bit of elbow
grease, the less expensive Koss ear buds could sound better than the
Sony's and nearly as good as the Shure and Etymotic. Doing a search
resulted in many websites referring to methods of "modifying" the Koss
ear buds.
I was convinced and went looking back in April. However, when I got to
the store, I couldn't find any "The Plug". All I found was "Spark Plug".
I was confused but I bought them anyway. I searched Amazon and realized
that they must be the 3rd iteration of Koss's ear buds because I only
came up with one result, and it said it was added to Amazon only 2 days
before I bought it locally. Since I've never heard the 2nd iteration
(purple/silver) I can't comment on sound. However, aesthetic wise, this
new version was definitely designed for use with the IPod (which I don't
own, but that's okay, it matches my stuff anyway) It still has that
silver ring with Koss on it, but the rest of the ear buds are all white
and more of a retro simplified shape. Looks clean, nothing fancy.
As for fit. No problems here. I read many complaints on the second
version about the fast expanding foam. The foam on this version expands
slowly. It's quite comfortable and after awhile I forget I'm wearing
them. I even wear them in bed sometimes.
Sound wise, out of the box, the bass is really boomy, I prefer a tight
bass (as with many audiophiles, thus the mods). If you like to listen to
music heavy in bass, like rap or house, or whatever, then you'll like
these ear buds straight up. You can feel the bass "pound" in your head.
Unfortunately, for me, I don't listen to that when I study. So, I
decided to modify the ear buds. The only mod I felt necessary was the one
to tone down and tighten the bass, which is done by covering the ports.
Did that with some trimmed clear tape (didn't want to open the ear buds
and place electrical tape inside, as most DIYs state). The result, nice,
very nice. With the lower frequencies toned down, I can now hear my mids
and highs quite clearly. This is especially important since I listen to
mostly light vocal music while studying, such as Sarah Brightman. In
fact, after this mod, I can say these are the best headphones I've ever
used, especially FOR THE PRICE.
As for sound isolation, the tape mod helped that too. On an airplane it
completely drowns at the engine noise on only the 2nd tick of volume
(out of 25 or so?!?) Keeping the volume low also cuts back on battery
use and distortion. If I study with my friend, he has to wave his hand
in my face or shake me to get my attention (again, only 1 or 2 ticks on
volume). I've found you don't actually need to compress the foam to get
them in your ear, just a little pressure and twisting does it.
I plan to get another pair for my new "workout" mp3 player arriving
soon, so then I'll be able to comment on how well it stays in during
high activity and sweat.
Pros:
-Great sound for the money
-Sound isolation is awesome, even better than the $300 Bose active sound
canceling headphones (I wasn't impressed at all, not even with the
sound of those).
-Looks clean and somewhat stylish (iPod style). Has a sort of classy,
expensive look to them, not the traditional black egg shape of most
ear buds
-extra pair of foam buds included (they're backups/replacements, not an
alternative size, but I don't think an alternate size is needed)
Cons:
-Boomy bass out of the box. Drowns out the mids and highs. This is
easily solved by the tape mod, i.e., covering the ports. (porting is a
trick used by companies to make bass more "bassy") although this isn't a
problem if you like the "feel" of heavy bass.
-no case included. (hey, it probably cuts down on cost)
Concerns:
-earwax (no problem here since I keep clean)
-wires are thin and COULD become tangled b/c no case included (I've had
no problem with this actually, because I found the perfect sized case
for it from an old mini rectangular shaped flashlight. I've read some
people use a 35 mm film roll case/tube to hold it, which would be good
too)
-you may have to "play" with the placement in your ear for the best
sound quality, I've found what works best for me, just be patient.
Depending on placement, the sound may be muddy. For me, that means I
have them too deep in the ear.
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