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Music all the way

The latest gadgets enable you to tune in to music anywhere

HER COMPANION Music non-stop on FM radio

Iswarya Lakshmi's daily commute to college and back is no longer boring as she has her MP3 player for company. M. Palani's FM radio helps him keep cool as he plies his autorickshaw through the city. Savitha Rao takes refuge in her discman to beat stress at the BPO where she works. V. Senthil turns to the CD player in his car to escape the daily routine. Most people are now tuning into music while on the move.

Cheery tunes

Software professionals, college students, drivers, bank employees ... people from all walks of life are taking to these gadgets like never before. From the "big box" (read radio) to the sleek ipod, from vinyl records to the CD player, technology has sure changed the way we listen to music. According to Antony, who handles sales at a mall, the demand for ipods, MP3 players and mobile phones with FM radio is on the rise.

With FM stations mushrooming, there has been a rise in the demand for transistors.

Tuning into an FM station on her cell phone has made college student Sujitha's evening walks "more enjoyable." Another segment making a beeline for the latest gadgets are those pioneers of music on the move — car owners. Apart from FM and MP3, many systems are ipod compatible too.

Senthil points out that in a CD player, the quality of music is definitely much better than a cassette player. Besides, you can store more songs on a CD. At the other end of the spectrum, autodriver Raja sold his audio system and opted for an FM player a year ago. He explains that installing an audio system along with the speakers can easily cost Rs. 1,000. This is excluding the amount spent on purchasing cassettes. An FM player today can cost as little as Rs.140. What's more, it comes with inbuilt speakers.

Also available nowadays are cell phones with a memory card option. So now all that is required is to plug the memory card into the computer in order to download songs. It is this blend of affordability and versatility that has popularised gadgets such as the CD, MP3, FM players and the ipod.

A few years ago, music for people like Savita and Sujitha was restricted to the audio system at home, but not anymore. Whether at bus stops, cars, traffic signals or offices, this breed of technology has penetrated into people's lives in more ways than one. The sound of music is here, there and everywhere.

NANDHINI SHANMUGHAM

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