Last year I purchased a satellite radio receiver, and continue today to enjoy commercial free satellite radio. One of the benefits of satellite radio is being able to see the name of the song and artist as it is played. I soon found myself writing down several of my favorites. With the many channels available, I was writing down many names of songs – those that I have not heard in several years as well as new releases.

In the past, I would go to the music store and make a decision what CDs I would buy. You know the usual questions you ask yourself. Should I pay full price for this CD even though it has only 1 or 2 good songs on it?

Recently music downloads went from illegal file sharing to a big time, fully legitimate business, with Apple popularizing the activity with its iTunes service. With all the great music I was hearing on satellite radio, and all the song titles I was writing down, it seemed to be time to make the move from buying CDs to Internet based music downloads.

I began to search for a download service. There were several services to choose from, but I was not ready for a monthly membership fee that most required. After researching various services, reading the fine print, and trying unsuccessfully to set up my PDA to play music, I ended up with Apple’s iTunes. With no monthly fee and a per song download fee, this seemed perfect for me.

As I looked closer at iTunes, I discovered that there was no truth to the common myth that the music downloaded can only be played on an iPod personal player. I was happy to find out that in addition to playing the music on my Windows-based PC, I could also create CDs from the music I downloaded and play them in my lakehouse, boat, or car (newer CD players are compatible with the compact download format). The iTunes software managed all my music files, and created the CDs from any playlist I put together.

Now as I am thinking about the next step to buy a personal player, I am excited about moving to an iPod. If iTunes made music downloading, organizing, and listening very easy, I know adding an iPod with be a similarly easy experience.

As it turns out, getting satellite radio service and then adding a music download service was a great one-two punch. I am listening to more of my favorite music now than ever before. It is easy to create and add to music collections, which can be used over and over.

Two Months Later...

I’ve been using iTunes for some time now, and my music collection is growing. The interesting by-product of this activity is that my laptop computer is no longer just a tool to download music and make CDs to play elsewhere, it has become my central music entertainment center.

With most music downloading tools for your computer, you have the ability to build a library and custom play lists. So you can organize your collection of tunes in many different ways. The same song can be referenced across multiple play lists. I have music organized in playlists by artist, or by theme, or by a family member’s favorite selections.

Another nice feature is that you can import music from your CDs into your computer’s music library. This is a very simple task of popping your CD in your computer’s CD player, and your music download software prompts you through the import process. So for all of those CDs that you purchased that had maybe 2 or 3 good songs on it, you can import just those favorites.

The ability to organize, and also search for music within your selection, has convinced me that my laptop is the best place to keep all of my music. It is much easier for me to locate a song on my computer’s music library than it is searching through racks full of CDs.

A simple connection from your computer to your existing music/stereo components is all it takes to create the computer-centric music entertainment system. An inexpensive audio cable with a headphone style jack on one end and RCA-type plugs on the other end allow you to integrate your computer with your existing stereo components. Plug it into your computer’s headphone/speaker jack and the other end into your stereo’s auxiliary input.

Find a convenient place to locate your computer keyboard and monitor and you will have a great walk-up kiosk to select your music. This is handy as you are entertaining guests. Ask them what type of music they’d like to hear and together you can do a quick search in your music library. You can really impress them by instantly connecting to your online music service and downloading their favorite tune in a matter of a minute or less.

Then Came The iPod

Having my music entertainment system now on my laptop computer, I found that I was enjoying my entire collection of music. Compared to the days when I would carry only a small portion of my CD collection with me, I am now able to access any of my favorite songs with a few steps on my computer. The laptop connected into my home stereo system provides excellent quality sound and is indistinguishable from the former method using the CD player.

Taking my digital collection of music outside the house proved to be a little less convenient. I could burn a CD with a special compilation and take it in my car or boat and continue to enjoy it. The only problem was that I began to recreate the CD overflow that I was attempting to fix. My laptop was not portable enough to take in the car or boat and continue listening to music. Enter the portable music player. The new portable music players can hold thousands of songs, and they are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. So now your entire music collection can go with you wherever you go, with the portable player tucked away in your pocket.

As I discussed earlier, I was looking forward to an easy hookup of a portable music player and would personally take the path of the Apple iPod. After receiving the iPod as a gift, I had thoughts of recreating my entire collection of music on this portable device.

As I unpacked my new iPod, I found a CD with software to load on my laptop. It was very easy to install and completed in a minute or two. The software enables the iPod to synchronize with my music collection in iTunes, the music downloading and organizing software I was already using on my laptop. Now as I add songs to my music collection, I simply plug my iPod into the laptop through a standard USB connector (included with the iPod), and the iPod automatically updates to include all of the music in my iTunes collection, including the new, recently added music. No need to struggle with multiple pieces of software, and doing manual updates to the portable music player. It’s easy, it works, and the iPod is always ready to go.

When you think of a portable music player, you probably picture someone listening to it though miniature headphones, or earbuds. While that is very convenient and offers private listening, you can also enjoy sharing the music with others from this device. You can play the songs by connecting your portable player to your car or boat radio, or to your home stereo system.

You have the choice of using either a headphone to RCA-style plug adapter, or an FM modulator to connect. Either adapter plugs into the portable music player’s headphone jack and will play the music through another system. The RCA-style adapter enables a direct connection to your home stereo system, while the FM modulator allows you to hear the music on your radio’s FM tuner. The direct connect provides the best sound quality, so the FM modulator with its reduced sound quality should be used as a backup where a direct connect is not available.

Through the use of the portable music player, I have completely eliminated my use of CDs. I now consider myself fully converted to a digital music system.

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