Midterm & Final Review Podcasts and Audio File Downloads

Your History Midterm or Final Review on your iPod or MP3 player?
Absolutely! That's cool! That's Coastline!

What are MP3s and why should I care? How do they help me?
How do I download an MP3?
My MP3 player manufacturer says I should only use ‘AAC’, or another file format. Must I?
Should I convert the MP3 into another format?
Podcasting vs. Downloadable Files…what’s the difference?

What are MP3s and why should I care? How do they help me?
The term “MP3” is actually a file extension, just as “doc” is normally added to a Microsoft Word document. Therefore, a file might be named “history180midtermreview.mp3”. In day-to-day conversation, people usually say they have a number of MP3s on their computers or a number of MP3s take up so much disc space on their MP3 players.

MP3s are compressed digital audio files. They are one of the most common file types as almost all digital audio players play MP3s. Since MP3s are compressed, they don’t normally take up a lot of hard drive space on your computer, and they enable easy and relatively fast download times.

By downloading an MP3 file from Coastline, you are able to listen to course content whenever you want, whether it’s on your desktop, your laptop, your car or even your portable MP3 player.
Listening to MP3s help you learn when you want and how you want. You’re not ‘tied’ to learning when the instructor says so, or sitting in an uncomfortable classroom.

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How do I download an MP3? Is it different from downloading, say, an e-mail attachment?
Actually, downloading an MP3 from Coastline’s webpage is much like downloading an e-mail attachment. From Coastline’s webpage, at: http://dl.coastline.edu/podcasting.htm look for the file you want to download. Put your mouse pointer on the file, and right click. A menu will come up giving you options, such as ‘Open’ and ‘Save Target As…’ (This may also be labeled, ‘Save File As…’, or, ‘Save Link As…’). What you want is ‘Save Target As…’ Next you will be asked to where you want the file to go as it downloads. Choose the Desktop. In this way, when it’s done, you should be able to readily find the file on the Desktop. Click ‘Save.’ If you’re using a Mac, just drag the file to the desktop.

Depending on your connection speed, your computer’s processor speed and amount of memory, you may need to allow at least 10 minutes per file for downloading. It’s probably better that you not do anything else with your computer during this time, such as accessing your e-mail.

Now I have this MP3 file on my desktop. Now what do I do with it?
You have a couple of options. You may want to leave it on your desktop, then double-click on it whenever you want to listen to it. Another option is to import it into whatever application, such as iTunes, you use with your MP3 player.

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My MP3 player manufacturer says I should only use ‘AAC’, or another file format. Must I?
Normally, no. First, double-check the documentation that came with your software. As indicated previously, the MP3 format is one of the most common.

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Should I convert the MP3 into another format?
NO! The MP3 format is already compressed. By converting it to another compressed format, such as AAC, you’re not gaining disk space and in fact you may lose sound quality. As far as converting it from an MP3 format into ‘lossless’ format, such as WAV, all you’d be doing is making a really large file without any gain in quality.

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Podcasting vs. Downloadable Files…what’s the difference?
While Coastline has been offering audio and streaming audio files over the internet since the early 1990s, much of the course content is not subscription or time-sensitive based. Coastline has both audio and video studios for our instructors to create content for you.

Rarely will you find a lecture given in a classroom on a Monday retooled to be delivered via the internet on a Tuesday. Audio lectures made in this way tend to lack some basic, vital content, like everything written on the chalkboard during that lecture. Also, these lectures to audio often contain a good amount of useless information, like chit-chat and dead air. Podcasting websites may offer direct download of their files, as we do, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming. This page features audio files specifically compressed and formatted for optimal delivery in an MP3 player.

Your electronic course content has been specifically designed by your instructor and may contain audio, video, PowerPoint, Flash or other electronic file format. When you register for your class and complete the Letter of Agreement, your instructor will be able to inform you of any time-specific Podcast which may be available to you.

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