Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs Stuart Healy Western U.S. Bird Guide, Specializing in Southeast Arizona and the White Mountains 220 Stardust Street, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 Tel: (520) 458-7603 Fax: (520) 458-7353 E-mail: stuarthealy@earthlink.net Web: http://www.aztrogon.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................3 Original Requirements ............................................................................................................................3 Compromises ..................................................................................................
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 INTRODUCTION This document describes my experiences configuring and using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs in the course of my work. Topics covered include how I went about defining what I wanted, the compromises involved when I checked into what was on the market, the hardware and software that I ended up using, how I implemented the project and the practical aspects of field use.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 HARDWARE The Dell DJ 30 is a very compact and sleek unit that measures approximately 4 x 2.4 x 0.7 inches and weighs 6.4 ounces. I use it with an optional soft carrying case which increases the weight to 7.6 ounces. For output, I use a Radio Shack mini speaker-amplifier (catalog #277-1008C). The speaker-amp measures 3.5 x 2.75 x 1.4 (base), 1.2 (top) inches and weighs 5.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 SOFTWARE The Dell DJ ships with two software components. Musicmatch Jukebox This is the main component that facilitates the conversion of CD tracks to MP3 files and provides extensive features to catalog and “tag” the tracks prior to copying them to the Dell DJ. I talk more about this in the implementation section. The Jukebox can also play CDs and MP3 files on the computer.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 IMPLEMENTATION OVERVIEW For me, as a guide, it’s imperative that I can access the song or call of a specific species as quickly as possible before an opportunity passes by. No point in having tons of material on the MP3 player if I can’t get to what I want quickly when the need arises. With this in mind, I set about designing and implementing a scheme that would meet my needs.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Before I got very far into the project, I looked at the Dell DJ features to see how they would fit with the way I wanted to work in the field. What I required was to be able to get to a particular species as quickly as possible after I turned on the player. I wanted to see a list of bird families which could then be selected to display a list of birds in that family.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Looking at the results A picture is rumored to be worth a thousand words so I think it’s useful at this point to look at examples of Musicmatch and DJ display screens Musicmatch Screen 0 is a partial display of the Raw Birds library. The columnar fields are customizable for content, width and display order (I’ve scrunched up the columns to fit the page). © Copyright Stuart Healy www.aztrogon.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 DJ Screens 1-6 show the basic menus and navigation needed to access a specific species within a family. Getting to a bird All operations to select a bird are done with my right thumb; almost all operations are done with the scroll-select dial (SSD). 1) The main menu can be reached instantaneously no matter what state the DJ is in by pressing the home button. 2) Accessing the library menu only requires a single select, i.e.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 SOFTWARE WORKFLOW This section describes in detail how I used the Musicmatch software to achieve my objectives. First, in order to efficiently evaluate the source material, I copied all the CDs to disk (in WAV format) and created a master library using Musicmatch. Once I had the library, I created a hard copy index so I could see at a glance all the species represented, duplications, track locations, times, etc.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Before starting the copy, you can set the disk file format from the recorder settings window (I use WAV for ease of editing) and set the destination on disk from the Tracks Directory window. © Copyright Stuart Healy www.aztrogon.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Step 2 – Add source tracks to Raw Birds Library Adding tracks to a library in Musicmatch involves three basic steps: a) import the tracks; b) add tag information; c) name the tracks. Many music discs already contain the track names and other information that Musicmatch recognizes and tags automatically. If not, Musicmatch provides an on line lookup service (free) for name, artists and other data for tons of albums.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 After the tracks are added, the library display appears as shown in Musicmatch Screen 3. Now the work really begins, it’s time to add tag information using “Edit Track Information”. Tags should be added in decreasing order of most tracks affected. First, the album name and disc # are added since they apply to all tracks. This is shown in Musicmatch Screen 4.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Edit Track Information Checking the Album and Genre boxes in the “General Tab” allows data to be entered for those categories (values are memorized and can be accessed via drop down boxes in future sessions). The “More Tab” allows a specific disc to be entered in a multi disc set. Clicking OK applies the Album, Genre and Disc # data to all selected tracks (in this case, all tracks on the disc).
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Musicmatch Screen 6 shows a partial library display after assigning a family name to the first two tracks. Selecting a track with a right click will get you to the rename operation where the task of tagging is completed by typing a species name. Repeat, ad nausea. In my case, I had 9 discs to work through and, needless to say, it took a while! Unfortunately, even more work is ahead.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Step 3 – Edit audio tracks. This is a relatively straightforward but very tedious task that has to be replicated for each track (twice or more per track if you separate songs and calls). As I mentioned earlier, I use Adobe Premiere -- other editors will differ in operation but should allow the same basic functions shown in the screenshot.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 I saved the edited WAV files in folder Audio Files/Birds-Edited and sub folders organized by family as shown in the following partial folder display. The MP3 format files subsequently created (see next page) are organized identically within the MP3/Birds folder . My naming convention for the species files is to use the four letter banding codes, adding “song”, “call” and any sub species/race information as appropriate.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Step 4 – Convert edited tracks to MP3 format This is another fairly straightforward task which is simplified by the ability to select multiple files for simultaneous conversion. In fact, if you don’t organize files in family name folders as I do, all files could be selected and converted in one fell swoop. Not my style though.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Step 5 – Add MP3 files to Birds Library Okay, now we’re getting close to creating a sausage after lots of handle cranking. This step is almost identical to adding the source CD tracks to the “Raw Birds” library. In fact, it’s actually the same library since, as I mentioned earlier, Musicmatch only supports one library.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 The Add Tracks window is shown in Musicmatch Screen 9. In this example I’ve selected View by Genre and collapsed the display to show the “pseudo libraries”. Copying tracks to the DJ is very simple -- expand the display, select all or specific tracks using the standard select commands (CTRL click and SHIFT click) to pick out whatever you want. Click OK and you’re done. The transfer doesn’t take much time at USB 2 speed..
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 PRACTICAL MATTERS About the only downside I’ve found since abandoning tape players and switching to CDs and now to MP3, is the fact that two pieces of equipment are required -- the player and the speaker-amplifier. However, now that I’ve used the system for a while and figured out the best way of physically managing the equipment, I feel fairly comfortable with its operation.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 DJ Operation The DJ plays tracks belonging to a temporary list of tracks known as “Selected Music” and the track that is currently playing is known as the “Current Track”. Very logical you say. Tracks can be added to whatever is present in the selected music list, or the list can be replaced entirely with either a new list or just a single track.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Problems and Annoyances DJ player I’ve found the DJ to be very reliable and durable. In fact, dropping it from a height of 3+ feet hasn’t caused a problem, even when the unit was powered on and playing. I’ve done this at least four times in the past six months (not on purpose, of course!) and no doubt I’ll continue to do so.
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 Ongoing Concerns The Dell DJ is a sealed unit without any visible screws and it’s even unclear to me how the unit is assembled! Unfortunately, this means that the battery is not field replaceable. The specifications state that the unit will play for 12 hours continuously and, so far, I haven’t even come close to discharging the battery during a day in the field (according to the battery level display).
Using a Dell DJ MP3 player for field playback of bird songs. Rev A2, November, 2005 APPENDIX Index for the Cornell source CDs that I use. (Adobe PDF 130KB) http://www.aztrogon.com/MP3/CD-Index.pdf Manuals Dell DJ User’s Guide (PDF from Dell web site, ~580KB) http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/P82559M/en/Dell DJ UG Final Draft - 06 Oct.pdf Musicmatch Jukebox User’s Guide (PDF from Musicmatch web site, ~3.5MB) http://www.musicmatch.com/info/user_guide/MMJB_10_User_Guide_v3.