Tech-bite

I have a nephew that is starting college this fall and I wanted to get him something to make college life a little easier. Thinking back to when I attended college, I remembered one of the biggest challenges I had was with the large lecture classes.

My problem was that I could either listen to the lecture and remember what was said, or take copious notes on the information provided. If I just listened I usually got a lot more out of the lecture. If I took notes, I always had my notes but couldn't concentrate on what was being said. It was difficult for me to do both.

After a few semesters I finally figured out a way around my problem. I would take notes and record the lecture on a tape recorder. In those days it was a cassette unit that weighed about 5 pounds and was the size of a cigar box. Not the easiest thing to be lugging around but it got the job done.

Before each test, I would review both my notes and the actual lectures that lead up to the test. It really helped a lot on remembering all the details and important information on what would certainly show up on the exam. This tactic also came in very handy when we reviewed the test after the fact and provided a great study guide for any final exams.

I knew my nephew already had an MP3 player but I also knew that the model he had didn't record from a microphone. So I started my quest for an inexpensive MP3 player that was small and light, recorded well from a internal microphone, had enough memory to record for at least 8 hours, and good battery life.

When I started my search, the shear number of brands and models was overwhelming. I never realized just how many MP3 players were available from so many manufacturers. Breaking down the list to just the models that actually could record live helped but there were still a lot of units to choose from that recorded.

The best unit I could find ended up being a SanDisk Sansa model that fit the requirements exactly. It had a Gig of memory (enough for 40 hours of recording), could record in wav or MP3 formats, used one AAA battery that was estimated to last for at least 20 hours, and only weighed 2.4 ounces. It looked kind of ugly but the price was under $30.

Since I got off so cheap, I also got him a small backpack that he could put the netbook his Mom had gotten him (super small laptop) and the SanDisk Sansa. He had plenty or room for other stuff and the bag was small and still light enough to lug around campus.

We had a little going away party for him last week and everyone had brought something to give him for his college adventures. He was pretty excited about the netbook, but he also really liked the idea of recording his lectures too. So if you want to get a new college student something that can make college life easier, a low cost MP3 player that records could be a great gift.