hands on
Class, tune in to iTunes
Michael Vallance

Find out how to incorporate MP3 technology into school lessons.

As a teacher, I have often used cassette tapes in class for listening practice. But how often have you heard complaints that students can’t hear the tape from the back of the class or that the sound quality is poor?

But if you have Apple computers, then you are about to be initiated into the world of MP3, the cool compression technology that I’m sure all your students are talking about.

So let’s pull out those cassette tapes and rip some MP3. Here’s what you need: a cassette player, a Macintosh, a cable with a phono stereo jack at each end, the iTunes software (which can be downloaded for free from www.apple.com/itunes/) and sound recording software (I like Amadeus from http://www.hairersoft.com/AmadDownload.html which is also free).

To get started, first plug one end of the phono cable into your cassette player and the other end into the microphone port of your Mac.

Figure 1.1: Plug in the phono cable.

Figure 1.2: Phono cable

On your Mac, open the Sound Control Panel and select External Mic as your sound input option.

Next, open Amadeus. Press Play on the cassette player and the Record button in Amadeus simultaneously. You are now recording in AIFF format (Mac’s default sound format, but you can also use Windows WAV format).

Figure 2.1 : Record using Amadeus in OS 9.

Figure 2.2 : Record using Amadeus in OS X

Once finished, click the OK button. You can crop the ends of the sound wave if required by selecting the wave section and pressing the delete key.

Finally, save the file.
In Amadeus for OS X you can save directly as a MP3 file.

Convert to MP3 with iTunes
For the next step, simply open iTunes. In the Advanced menu, select Convert To MP3, then choose your sound file. iTunes will automatically compress your file as you are now saving in the smallish MP3 format.

If you have already saved your sound file in Amadeus as MP3 format then in iTunes 3 go to FILE and Add To Library.

Figure 3 : Convert sound file to MP 3 using iTunes.

You can continue with your other recordings and develop separate playlists (go to the File menu and select New Playlist). Files can also be dragged to and from playlists in typical Apple simplicity.

What can you do with your playlists?

If you have a CD-Rom writer, simply select Burn CD and you can save them to a CD for distribution or add to your school’s software collection.

If you are familiar with HTML, why not put your files online for students? An example of HTML code is <EMBED SRC="audio1. MP3" AUTOPLAY=false>

With your sound files compressed approximately four times, I’m sure your students will be happy that they no longer have to wait so long for the files to play.

Of course, your iMacs will need the QuickTime plug-in for playing the files.

What more can you do? Use a Walkman to tape an interview or simply attach the Walkman’s microphone to your blouse or tie while you give a presentation.

You can also talk your way through a procedure such as a physics experiment and later take photographs of the procedure to create a QuickTime slide show.

Import the MP3 sound file and you will have a multimedia demonstration in a reasonable file size.

If size is not so important, then go for video. But how often have your videos been spoilt by poor recording?

One solution is to record to a tape, convert to MP3 and then import to iMovie. This is good for monologues. However, purchasing an external microphone for your video camera is the simplest solution.

Now that you have been introduced to the world of MP3, why not use iTunes to look for some MP3 files (songs in particular) on the Web?

Once you have built up a personalised playlist, you can then export to an MP3 player such as the new, Mac-friendly HipZip from Iomega (www.iomega.com) or Apple's iPod.

And question your young students as MP3 is the in-thing right now.

A note of caution on copyright: Be aware of what you are recording, copying and distributing so as not to violate copyright. The only files I distribute or put online are those I have recorded personally, and if I have interviewed someone, then I seek their approval beforehand.

I hope this introduction has opened up a new world of incorporating digital sound in your Mac labs. Apple has once again come up with a simple solution to using state-of-the-art technology for teachers — tools that let them simply get on with the job of teaching.

Michael Vallance is from the Mac Users Group of Singapore. Its website is at www.macuser.org.sg