My MP3 and Me

Finally, finally, finally- I got my MP3 player on October 16th. And- finally, finally, finally- I was able to download audiobooks from Overdrive. This is what I've learned in the process:

• Some MP3 player manufacturers assume that you already know how to use an MP3 player. The instruction book that came with the player was more of an "Okay, this is how to get started, now figure it out for yourself" book.
• It's a big, big mistake to listen to big, big books on this player. It's better to start out with small books and leave Pillars of the Earth until later. Not only does it take forever for big tomes to download, it takes much longer to listen to a book than to read it. And....
• If you doze off while reading a book, it's easy to find where you left off. If you doze off while listening to an audiobook, you have to flip back and listen multiple times to find where you dozed off.
• Some audiobook narrators should market their voices as sleep aids.
• Dozing off while listening to books where characters are being maimed, dying by various means, being abused, etc. when you are in doze-mode is injurious to your dream state.
• My cats and my housemate are envious of the player- though I think one of my cats just wants the earphones.
• I wondered how JPL got these in bulk for -what I found out- was $20 under list price. These have to have been seconds. The ear buds are weird. The earbuds I got and a colleague got have one side a foot longer than the other. One of my staff noticed the same thing with her MP3. I ended up getting another set of earphones to use with it.
• But, I like my MP3. I'll use it. It'll be great for long trips. BUT...
• I have to develop restraint. While I used to be able to watch TV and do homework as a teen, I can't multitask as well as I used to. Watching TV, skimming the newspaper, AND listening to an audiobook isn't working for me.

Still waiting for my MP3 player.....

The promised MP3 player is still not in my hot little hands. I'm going to have to go back over what I learned in Learning 2.0 when-- and possibly if-- I ever receive it. The second session of JPL's Learning 2.0 initiative. After a hiatus of nearly 2 months, I'm going forward and looking at what Learning 2.1 has to offer. I've signed up on the Learning 2.1 wiki. So- I'll start to look at the first of these this week. The best thing about doing this on my own is that there's no pressure to get it looked at and done in one week because there's another lesson hitting the mailbox on Monday.