MP3 Player

For some reason I can't explain, I've wanted to learn to speak Japanese for quite some time now. I just think the language sounds cool, especially when Samurai movie dudes are threatening each other as they waggle their swords around.

Or maybe it's because I never could figure out what Eric Bloom was grunting in the middle of Blue Öyster Cult's "Godzilla" (2:42 of the linked clip). Or maybe it was Mr. Roboto. I'm not sure.

In any case, I finally checked out some "Intro to Japanese" CDs at the library, and started listening to them in my car. Progress has been slow...but there has been progress. The problem is that I also like to listen to the news when I'm driving, so I got to thinking that it would be nice to have another venue for trying to absorb my language lessons. My first thought was to listen at the office, but my employer seems to expect me to occasionally accomplish something related to my English language duties, so that probably wouldn't work. But then I went for my long run on the weekend...and realized that during some of those runs, I had two hours of isolated, quiet time. A perfect opportunity.

But I can't very well carry my car's CD player up the canyon, now, can I? No, of course not. But I have seen other runners who seem to be listening to some sort of portable devices, with tiny little headphones embedded into their ears. Perhaps, I thought, one of those devices could provide a solution to my dilemma. Hmmm.

After some investigation, I discovered that these portable audio sources (usually attached to the biceps with velcro straps) were called "Empee3 Players", or "Eye-pods". Odd names, but they seem to be very popular. I decided to look into purchasing one.

Yikes. It turns out that they're fairly expensive, especially if you get more than one Gigabyte of capacity. I couldn't find anything in local stores for less than about $50. Maybe I should check on eBay.

And there you go. 8Gb players for about $15. Oh, don't worry -- I know the old saying about how if something looks too good to be true, it probably is...so I did a little research. And sure enough, the buzz on the review sites seems to confirm that the suspiciously inexpensive MP3 players I was looking at are cheap Chinese knockoffs that don't have nearly the usable capacity that they claim to have.

Still...if I could get one for ten or twelve bucks, and it could hold my Japanese lessons -- well, perhaps false advertising and lower-than-expected quality are fair tradeoffs for ultra-cheap capacity. I put down a bid, just to see what happened.

And presto, I'm out $13, and some guy in Longduckdong province has agreed to send me an 8Gb (wink wink nudge nudge) MP3 player, shipping it across the Pacific at no extra charge. Cool.

Fifteen days later, the device arrived, complete with earphones, a USB connector, and a user's manual that said things like "Good most use to hearing musical," and "Ears attach long supply for on." Despite such helpful instructions ("Underwater not to be recommend player"), I was eventually able to figure out how to get it to play music. It also includes an FM radio, a voice recorder, and the capability to play videos. Pretty sweet for a tad more than a sawbuck.

The next challenge came in figuring out how to load the language lesson tracks onto the device. I decided to stick with the low-end basics, and set up a playlist using Windows Media Player. And eight hours and significant gnashing of teeth later, I had that bad boy loaded with everything I'd need to learn Japanese while working out, lounging around, or driving to the office. (Well, as long as I was willing to spend that time with earbuds jammed into my head, at least.)

But before I began to implement this grand educational strategy, I happened to talk with my brother. We had chatted on many occasions about inspiring each other to pursue the study of Japanese...but he said he was struggling with the task, and thus far had been unable to find properly helpful study materials. And then he reminded me that his birthday was coming up. Hmmm.

I decided that the fully-loaded MP3 player might be just the gift that would jumpstart his desired bilingual edification. So I put the components in a box for him, went back on eBay and ordered another one of the low-rent devices for myself. I didn't get quite as good a deal on this one, but again, if it works at all, I'll be satisfied. I figure that if my brother works on the lessons, too, we'll be able to hold each other accountable for making progress in our studies...and before the end of summer we'll know how to do all the things they include in recorded language lessons -- like ask where the bathroom is, how much a train ticket costs, and whether we're expected to bring the popcorn for this weekend's Godzilla movie marathon.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. In the meantime, have a great day!