mp3 players - jargon buster

AAC

Advanced Audio Coding. Developed for high quality music track encoding. All Apple iPods use this format.

Bitrate

The amount of data used to store an audio file is known as the bitrate and is expressed in kilobits per second(kps) This is important because the bitrate for speech is less(32kps) than the bitrate for good quality pop music.(128kps). This means high quality music files will have a higher bitrate and thus take up more space on your MP3 player.

Card Slot

Expand the memory of your player and store more music tracks with a memory card in the slot.

Digital Music File

A digital music file that when played, allows you to hear music on your computer. There are quite a few types of different digital music file formats. AAC,MP3 WAV,Real Audio and WMA being the most popular.

Digital Music Player

A digital music player is the installed software program on a computer that allows encoded music to be played, through either speakers or headphones. iTunes,Windows Media and MusicMatch are examples of these players.

DRM

Digital Right Management: Software encryption to control the sharing and use of music in digital form.

EQ

Equaliser. An equaliser on an MP3 player means you can adjust and change the way music sounds. Some MP3 players have Rock,Classical and Jazz equaliser settings, that either enhance the bass or treble or both.

FireWire

A fast type of connection lead, also called iLink and IEEE 1394.

Flash Memory

Storage for data involving no moving parts.

Hard Disk

A storage device that has moving parts to access and save your data. This type of storage can come in very large capacities, but is susceptible to movement.

iTunes

Apple Computers software package for the cataloguing and playing of all your audio tracks.

Memory Stick

A type of memory card developed by Sony, reminiscent of a stick of chewing gum! Also available in high capacity PRO and DUO Formats.

MP3

An encoded music track format for playing on an MP3 Player

MPG4

A multi-layered format for audio and/or video.

Playsforsure

PlaysForSure logo on a device means it is totally compatible with Windows Media.

RIP

To Rip(convert) a CD audio track into another format(MP3,AAC,WMA or similar) for playing on an MP3 player.

SD

Secure Digital, a postage stamp sized memory card

USB

Universal Serial Bus. This is the most common connection used on MP3 players,USB2 being the latest faster version.

WMA

Windows Media Audio: Audio track encoding developed by Microsoft.