/ personal tech / gadgets /Put the squeeze on CDs |
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Storage on MP3 players that use chips or hard drives is expensive. Less-expensive options exist. Sony's MZ-R70 MiniDisc Walkman ($249.95; 800-352-7669) and MZ-R70DPC ($295.95) can help; you can copy songs from computer to mini-disc with USB link cables. Mini-discs run about $2 and hold 74 minutes of music. Or, you can save MP3 files to a data CD if you have a CD-recordable or CD-rewritable drive. To produce a disc you can use in an audio CD player, you must "burn" it in CD-audio format, again limiting you to 74 minutes. However, a data CD can store 650MB, enough for 10 hours of music in CD-data format, or about 160 CD-quality songs. But you can't play it with a standard audio CD player. In that case, try the MpTrip. The portable MpTrip ($98: 877-505-4689) works like a standard CD player, but it also plays MP3s from data CDs. The data-to-disc transfer process is confusing. But with CD-R discs around $1 each, it's worth playing with. —Eric Griffith / click here / Sony MiniDisc Walkman MpTrip |