USB Driving Classroom Boomboxes
5th in an ongoing series about changes to audio players.
Change is one of the few constants which can be relied on, especially as far as how teachers and students are applying audio technology is concerned.
The previous article in this series covered the rise in popularity of SD cards, and their use in classroom multimedia players. In addition to SD cards, the other perhaps even more dominant technology for portable storage is a USB drive, which will be the focus of this blog.
USB drive in use on the Music Maker USB (left) and the Spirit SD (right)
Offering the same portability and benefits of an SD card, a USB (or “thumb” drive), is a self-powered drive which is MAC and PC compatible, can hold any type of file (audio, video, jpegs, and text) commonly used in a classroom, and is considered to be a little more durable.
With the demand increasing from educators for this portable storage to bring teacher-created materials into class, the supply-side has started catching up with two multimedia player/recorders, each fitted with a USB drive. The Spirit SD offers the portability of a lightweight boombox but with the durability necessary for day-in and day-out learning center uses where the emphasis is on read-alongs played from its cassette & CD players, or through its USB and mini-USB ports.
The more fully-outfitted Music Maker USB offers the same multimedia capabilities as the Spirit SD, but with an onboard 512MB flash memory, the first of its kind. The computer-like memory opens up a world of possibilities including utilizing the variable speed playback of MP3 and WMA files as well as record to and from the SD card/USB/mini-USB. (Technically, the Music Maker USB will either copy files or record them in real time. For CD (MP3 CDs only), FLASH, USB, and SD, it will copy files. For CD (Audio CDs only), TUNER and AUX, it will record in real-time.)
Multimedia player/recorders aren’t the sole domain for these new drives, they’re also available on the PowerPro PA919SD too.
Return to the beginning of the series.
