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MP3 player muscles onto tech market, holiday gift lists

By Satadru Pramanik
Daiily Online Witer
Thrcc months ago, my study regi-
men consisted of a voluminous CD
case, a portable CD player, two to
four batteries and possibly an AC
adapter. Times have changed. Three
rechargeable batteries and a Diamond
Rio later, I now have twelve tracks
worth of CD-quality music from two
or three CDs looping for the entire

The Diamond Rio is the most antic-
ipated product of its kind yet.

Understandably, i
Diamond
Rio 500
$250-$340

it

night. In stores now
Why make the change? The
Diamond Rio 500 weighs only 2.75
ounces, runs on one AA battery for 13
hours and plays MP3s. All in all, a
much more efficient way to maintain
the peaceful deafening blasts of noise
from my earphones (and drown out
the sounds of late-night conversations
at Rendezvous Cafe). MP3 music files

s been flying off
the shelves,
approach in g
Pokemon for
annual honors
as a holiday gift
phenomenon. It
may be a chal-
lenge to get a
hold of one, but
those who want
the challenge
should know the
details.
Unlike tradi-
tional CD and
cassette players,
the Rio plays
that have to be

downloaded into the player from a
USB-equipped computer. (These days
that means any PC built in the last
year, or any iMac, Blue & White or
newer Mac.) The MP3 music format
has become the standard for music on
the Internet, due to the incredibly
small size. of the files, On average
they occupy less than one-twelfth of
the hard drive space the original CD
track takes up, and in most cases can
be located on the Internet for no
charge.
The Rio 500 has 64 Megabytes of
memory on it, which will easily hold
the contents of an average CD that has
about an hour of music on it. Memory
can be added by ordering special
Flash Memory Cards, but the largest
See DIAMOND RIO, Page 12B

RECYCLE
THE
DAILY.

i

THE PARTY'S NOT OVER YET
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but Weekend, etc. is obligated to report
not, in fact, be the first year of the new milennium. Historians have pointed 4
there was no year between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D., the year 2000 will be the last t
millennium. (Who are they kidding, everyone knows we just want to see all I
over like on an odometer.) Look on the bright side: Another party coming up
II I

. . -

The first desomp

r_ _ _ _ _... . .

.. S

IPhoto Illustration by Danny Kalick/DAILY
LSA student CJ. Hayes discards CDs in favor of MP3 music he hopes to find on the Web.

I

-- Sprint. Sprint PCS' presents

I

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r

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www.apple.com/education/store
1-800-780-5009

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wN

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&W Jeep

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