Dell 30 manual Introduction, Original Requirements, Compromises, Decision

Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005

INTRODUCTION

This document describes my experiences configuring and using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs in the course of my work. Topics covered include how I went about defining what I wanted, the compromises involved when I checked into what was on the market, the hardware and software that I ended up using, how I implemented the project and the practical aspects of field use.

Even though your application, hardware and software may not be exactly the same as mine, the information contained here will hopefully help you to implement an MP3 solution that works for you.

Original Requirements

Life before MP3 with a myriad of portable tape players and (briefly) a portable CD player had given me plenty of insight into potential problems with field use of electronic playback equipment.

First and foremost on my mind was robustness, the ability of the equipment to withstand the knocks it would undoubtedly receive -- I knew that I would be dropping the equipment on a regular basis. For this reason I decided that I wanted a solid state unit; i.e. one with a memory card rather than a hard disk

The second most important aspect was ease of use in the field. I wanted to be able to quickly and easily access any bird song using just one hand. With a binocular, micro-recorder, often times a scope and sometimes a camera to carry, this is obviously an issue.

Two main features were important here: (1) a large display that could be read easily in poor light and (2) an easy to use selection device. Secondary, but nevertheless important, issues that I considered were storage capacity, a field replaceable battery, unit size and weight.

Compromises

Now to reality. When I first looked at the market in February 2005, I soon realized that I would have to compromise on my most important requirements. All of the solid state units were “low end” in terms of display and controls. Most didn’t have a display at all (let alone a large display) and the controls for selection of songs were quite primitive.

To get a large display and decent controls for selection of songs meant that I would have to buy a unit with a hard disk. I also settled for an integrated battery.

Decision

PDAs can play MP3 files but the dorky touch screen pen control ruled that out as a viable option. IPOD seems to be the main choice for most (music) MP3 users but since I’m a PC and not a Mac user, I didn’t want to invite any software problems. Consequently, I ruled out IPod immediately and didn’t even consider the available units. I looked around at various manufacturers’ equipment and eventually decided on a Dell unit for several reasons -- it had the large display that I wanted, a very easy to use selection device and, perhaps most importantly, I’ve been a Dell computer user for a number of years (two desktops and a laptop) and have been very satisfied with the equipment.

I decided on the Dell DJ 30GB unit. At the time of my purchase (March 2005) this was the largest unit that Dell offered (in addition to 5GB and 20GB). Although such a large capacity isn’t necessary purely for bird songs, I chose it because I also wanted to play music (man cannot live by birds alone) and download photos to the unit while on the road (as a backup in case my laptop hard disk fails).

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