Question: We bought an MP4 player on ebay from Hong Kong, and it says it holds 99 songs. However, after loading 5 songs it says its full. When there are no songs loaded, it says 97 percent of the player is full of recorded files?

So, after pondering my version of personalized music, I did some investigation.  The closest that I could find was a music service called Rhapsody.  This service allows you to listen to listent to music and even watch videos.  You can listen to up to 25 songs per month and 25 different ad-free radio stations for free by just downloading and installing their software.  That's pretty cool if you just want to sample music before you buy. I downloaded the small Rhapsody player and in a minute I was listening to music.  I searched on "Elvis Costello", being a fan, and found an exclusive Rhapsody interview with him.  Nice. For a $9.99 monthly fee, you can have access to 2 million songs to listen to and get 10% off the purchase of a song.   You can create your own playlists, transfer music to MP3 players, and get personalized recommendations from Rhapsody. It still doesn't solve my problem exactly though.  I need an Internet connectino in order for it to work obviously, so I can't listen on demand in my car.  Hopefully, that will change soon...   

I have been thinking a lot about music lately.  I obviously enjoy listening to music given the fact that I have multiple stereos, XM radio, plenty of MP3 players, and hundreds of CDs, among other audio things. My problem is that I still can't really listen to what I want, when I want.  XM radio is pretty close, but has its problems and drawbacks.  So, I've started a search for a music service that allows me to do the following: I ONLY want to listen to songs that I enjoy listening to (e.g. Anything Beatles, but NO Air Supply or Kid Rock) I want to listen to songs that I do not yet own such as new hit singles. I don't want to have to buy a song in order to listen to it, but want to have the option if I want to (I don't mind paying a monthly fee for unlimited listening). I want the ability to arrange songs into playlists or genres, so that I can listen to different kinds of music depending upon my mood. If you know of a service such as this, please let me know.  In the meantime, I'm going to start my ...

Many new electronic devices are using LCD screens. If you break it, you might feel absolutely sick! Don't despair! Usually, you can take the unit apart and find a part number on the LCD. Simply Google or ebay the part number, and chances are you'll find a replacement for a good price. This is especially nice because many electronic device manufacturers buy their LCD's from other companies - and they charge more so that they can make a profit off the LCDs. In other words, you are buying straight from the original manufacturer of the LCD, so there is no price markup.

Did your DVD/CD player or combo unit suddenly take a turn for the worse? Did it stop reading some discs, start skipping, or just stop playing all together? If you're the type to dig in and fix it on your own, Larry Dillon has the ultimate guide for you! Read on to learn how to figure out what's wrong, and maybe get that player back in top working order!

I recently had the opportunity to try my friend's noise cancelling headphones on a plane trip out west. I had often heard about the benefits of the sound isolating features of the headphones, but have had difficulty justifying spending the money as they can be a bit pricey. I also didn't want to carry around large headphones in my bag for fear that they would break. I can say that after trying them out, they are definately amazing. The headphones that I tried had a lever on them to turn on and off the noise cancelling feature and when I did so when the plane was in the air, the difference was incredible. I could actually very clearly hear the music as well as the DVD I was watching without having to turn up the volume all the way. If you're looking for a set of these types of headphones, Steven Jones recommends Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones. For earphones, check out Shure's line of sound isolating headphones pictured above. Some other related threads: Meri's experience with noise cancelling headphones at the Dentist Matt Whitlock's Quick Tip on Upgrading Headphones

Question: I have a portable Sony CD player (D-EJ119), and when I press play the LCD screen just flashes the word hold. Nothing happens, and I can't hear any music. Any ideas?

Short post, but I'm getting tired of my playlists that I've created on my MP3 players. I'm too lazy to go through and create new ones - that takes too much effort. (I talked about the playlists I've created here.) I've started to use some of the other ways to listen to music on my player which makes for fun listening: Taking all of an artists songs and randomly shuffling through them. Playing the "Top 25 Most Played" songs. Shuffling through all of the songs on the player. What I really wish worked better was Genres. There are sooo many genres that it makes the distiction completely useless. At most there should be 10 categories: Rock, Pop, Rap, Country, Alternative, Heavy Metal, Blues, Jazz, Classical (and I'm sure I'm missing a major one, but haven't given it a ton of thought.) With those categories, you can actually listen to the type of music you want.  Would love to hear of a way to cut these categories down to a managable size in iTunes.