GPS and MP3

Adam Engst - 12:05pm Jan 8, 2007 PST

I've been remiss in forwarding this...

cheers... -Adam

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From: Glen Bledsoe
Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 19:37:13 -0800

>In non-GPS features, both units could accept a
>Secure Digital card (unfortunately, all I have
>for my cameras is Compact Flash cards)
>containing MP3s and photos. Being unable to test
>these features didn't particularly bother me
>though, since I consider them nearly irrelevant
>to the primary function of the GPS. If I want to
>listen to MP3s or view photos on a little
>screen, I'll use my iPod.
>

Adam,

Just finished reading your article on the
Magellan RoadMate 3000T/6000T. I haven't used
either of these units, but recently bought
a Garmin Nüvi 350 which I have found _extremely_
useful. Last month it maneuvered me through the
tangle of highways around Nashville, Tennessee
where I'd never been before on a dark, rainy
night. Even with road construction it performed
remarkably well. It's not perfect, but many
levels of magnitude better than trying to drive
and read a map at the same time.

What I wanted to respond to was your comment
(quoted above) that you had an iPod and so didn't
need an mp3 feature in a GPS. I thought the same
thing myself (my family has more iPods than
family members), but the issue is what happens if
you're playing your iPod and your GPS wants to
give verbal directions? Do you have the time to
turn the iPod down or pause it? Do you simply
leave the iPod turned off?

Here's the deal with the Garmin Nüvi 350: you're
playing your mp3 music (or Audible book which is
a separate application with slightly different
responses) and the GPS needs to give you a verbal
direction. It stops the music, gives the
direction, backs up about a second, then
continues the music. If you're listening to an
Audible book, it's even better. It stops the
story, gives you directions, backs the story up
maybe 5 - 10 seconds and continues the story. I
haven't timed exactly how long it backs up mp3's
and Audible books, but the Audible software backs
up more than the mp3 software. I'll have to admit
I use the Garmin (and my iPods for that matter)
more to listen to books and podcasts than listen
to music. It's not that I don't like music, but
the road noise takes away too much of the music
for me. Of course if there are a number of rapid
changes taking place or heavy traffic, I turn off
the mp3 or Audible book just as I would with an
iPod.

Garmin's tech support, for what it's worth, has
promised me that as of January 2007 Garmin will
have Mac software updates for ALL of its products
-- past, present and future.


Your friendly neighborhood educational technologist,
Glen L. Bledsoe
Tech Liaison
Oregon Writing Project at Willamette University
<http://www.willamette.org/owp>http://www.willamette.org/owp

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