Very cool

So I've had the Blue-Ray player for over a week now, and I'm very pleased. Netflix and music CDs work fine. Not so for the MP3 player. No place to plug it in, but there is a USB port on the front of the player. I tried to plug in the MP3 player that way, but that's not how it works. It tried to write to the player but good thing there was nothing to write to it or I'd have lost the files on the device. I guess the USB connect for the MP3 player is just for transferring files to and from it and charging the battery. But....

Something way cooler and much better! I can plug a USB flash drive into the BR player! I tested it with MP3 files and it was amazing. The sound came through the Bose rich and full. And there isn't a battery like for the MP3 player.

I only had one 4GB flash drive that I had picked up at a discount store. Functional but plain and black. I went on the search for a more attractive device to store the music on. Not only for aesthetics, but such a small black thing disappears when kept with the other black components. It could be lost.

Found some online, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to go that route. I made a point of checking any local store I happened to be in, but wasn't having any luck. The discount store where I got the other one didn't have any in stock. Then I tried Staples which is right next door. I thought that would be the logical place for something like that. Not really, unless you're a kid or a professional. The kid things were silly cartoon characters or skateboards on a display for stocking stuffers. Price was ok but none appealed to me. The real deal was in an aisle but they were all high end professional grade devices. And all black. I just wanted a reasonably priced 4-8 gigs in anything other than black.

Found it at Kmart. I don't do Kmart much but I did find my 1st MP3 player there when no one else had anything other than iPods and the like. I just wanted a plain music player, I don't need graphics and video. I liked it so much, I got a 2nd better one (not an iPod) later. So I tried Kmart for the flash drive. They had a good selection and I got one that was pretty much perfect for my need. Not too small, not black, and only $10. It has a loop so I can attach it to something making it less losable and easily identified as the music files. I'll look through my craft stuff for a charm or something.

So now I have another good option for music in the house. I like it! BTW, most of my MP3s were freebies. Some were burned from CDs I had bought. When I first got the cell phone, I was roped into the free trial apps, one being Rhapsody. The app was free, but that doesn't mean the music is. It's not. I went crazy before I realized I was paying for each song I downloaded. Quickly put a stop to that and cancelled the apps.

I learned how to search for free music online. There are lots of sites that offer free downloads, you just have to know what to look for. Can't find all the music you might want, but most of what I wanted was out there for the taking. I mostly listen to classic and oldies rock and almost all those old tunes can be found. I listen to Dish Network's audio channels (Sirius) and jot down any song that I liked. Then I search the free sites and usually find it.

So I have a pretty good size collection of MP3s now. Enough for more hours than I'm likely to listen to at one time. And there's still room for more on the 4GB players and flash drives.

Oh and I think I'll embrace the flash drive way of backing up files. I hadn't done that, and I'll keep an eye out for more in the future. In the meantime, I have an immediate use for the black drive that I hadn't considered before. There's a program I wouldn't mind having on the Netbook, but backing up the files was cumbersome. I had to unplug an external drive from the desktop puter. The flash drive will make that so easy!

I love technology!

Good morning.