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How to Download Music Onto an MP3 Player

Mukul Deshpande
An MP3 player is a portable device that can play MP3s, just as your personal computer (PC) can. Read on, to know more about, how to download music onto an MP3 player.
So, you are intending to buy a new MP3 player. You have a wide variety of options to choose from. Sony, Microsoft, SanDisk, Phillips, Creative, Coby, Samsung or RCA MP3 player are just a few of brands. It may even be a cell phone that doubles as an MP3 player, or a handheld game console such as Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable).
The next important step is knowing, how to store music on your MP3 player, so that you can listen to it while you're commuting to and from work.

Ways to Download Music onto an MP3 Player
The first step is to download music from the Internet. You can do so by using your MP3 player itself, if it can connect to the Internet using Wi-Fi connection. You can download songs from websites, which allow you to do it for free, or you may choose to pay for the downloads.
One of the options is to go to the Apple iTunes music store and pay 99 cents for every song you want to download.
Note that these songs are protected by Apple's FairPlay DRM (Digital Rights Management), so you can play the songs only on the Apple iPod, MP3 players. Other online stores encrypt the songs using the Windows Media Digital Rights Management (WMDRM) for security purposes.
In order to decrypt and playback these files, you need the license key. If your license has expired, you will not be able to play the files. Your MP3 player has to support WMDRM, in order to play these audio files.
You can also use music subscription services such as eMusic. For $11.99 per month, you can download up to 24 songs a month. Other online music stores are Napster, MusicNow, URGE, and Yahoo! Music, which also allow music download for a certain charge that you have to pay.
The other way is to simply search for the song title and artist name on Google, and download the song from some website which allows you to do so for free. You can also download entire albums using BitTorrent.

Using Computer

Another way to get MP3 files is by ripping your music CDs. In this way, you can convert your music to MP3 or WMA (Windows Media Audio) format.
To do this, first insert the music CD into the computer's CD drive. Then you can rip your CD using Windows Media Player, to encode your music to the WMA format. Note that you should deselect the "Copy Protect Music" option so that your music files are compatible with most MP3 players.
The next step is to download music onto MP3 player. This means to copy or sync the songs you want, to your MP3 player. You have to connect the device to the computer using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable.
If your player has USB-MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) support, then even better. The Windows operating system will automatically detect the device, which will be shown as a USB flash drive.
You can find the device by going to "My Computer." Then you can copy and paste the files from your computer to the MP3 player. Otherwise, you can go to "Windows Explorer" and drag and drop the files to your MP3 player. Note that you need to drop the songs into the right directory, or the device will not be able to play the files.
This approach is most useful for music players that do not incorporate Bluetooth and can only be loaded with music after they are connected to a PC. Storing songs on a Bluetooth equipped MP3 player is easy and you do not have to use a data cable to establish the connection.
You can also use the media management functions of Windows Media Player to transfer the files. Most MP3 players have special software available from the manufacturer to sync the files.
For example, the Creative Zen MP3 player has the "Creative Media Explorer" to allow you to import the audio. Note that you may also have to install specific drivers for the MP3 player.
Most MP3 players can handle audio files in three formats: MP3, WMA, and WAV. There are also other file formats such as OGG and Apple's AAC (Advanced Audio Coding).
MP3 players can also work as FM radio, so you can listen to radio stations that are available in your city. They can also record voice. You have to simply press the Record button, and speak to the device, and then playback what you have just said.
MP3 players also have other functions such as the ability to view photos and playback videos.Now, that you know how to copy music to your MP3, you can enjoy listening to music whenever and wherever you want to.