Listen To This: Controls

So far, in this series, we have not really had much of a chance to get into specifics about the individual players.  We’ve done a quick overview, looked in the boxes, even checked out the hardware and accessories.  But none of what we have looked at so far has had much to do with the actual use of the players.  All of that is going to change now.  The next two articles will focus on the user interface.  Today, we will be talking about the controls on each of the six players.  In the next article, we’ll be looking at a related item, the menu systems in each player.  The two really go together, and if it helps, we can think of this as part 1 and the next one as part 2.

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Listen To This! The Great JAMM Portable Media Player Showdown. Part 2: Hardware

When I started thinking about this series, one of the hardest things to wrap my brain around was where to begin.  Then, I thought about Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music.  “Start at the very beginning.  A very good place to start.”  You know what?  That is excellent advice.  So, rather than getting into some of the more complex areas like playing music or videos, I thought we would start with what you see right out of the box.  Usually, the battery is dead or near to it when you buy a new media player, so the first thing you are going to do is not watch a video or play some music.  The first thing you will do is tear through that box and examine the hardware (pining for the ability to use it while it is charging.)  So, I thought it made the most sense to start there…right out of the box.  And we will do that in a few initial articles.

Today, I am going to take a look at the players themselves.  Turned off, and just looking at the hardware and construction.  The next two installments will look at the rest of the contents of the respective boxes, including earphones and accessories.  We’ll then wrap up this initial section with a look at the controls on each of the devices.  Then, we’ll start to look into what happens when you turn these things on and start playing with them.  So, let’s jump right in and start at the very beginning.  You slowly and carefully remove your new device from the packaging…

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