variable speed playback on MP3 player-- what purpose??

[John Battersby]

I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.

Thanks,
John

[John Williamson]

On 23/04/2016 17:05, John Battersby wrote:
> I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
> quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
> settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
> encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
> remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
> than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
> purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
> track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.
>
<Stereotype alert> Letting your secretary more easily audio type the
stuff you gabble like a machine gun into the machine while you're out of
the office. She can slow it down and still understand it.

As a guitarist, you could use it to slow down a riff you are trying to
learn. Other instruments are available...


--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[Nil[_2_]]

On 23 Apr 2016, John Williamson >
wrote in rec.audio.pro:

> <Stereotype alert> Letting your secretary more easily audio type
> the stuff you gabble like a machine gun into the machine while
> you're out of the office. She can slow it down and still
> understand it.

This feature is in a couple of software podcast-listening apps I've
encountered. The idea is that you can speed them up and get through
them faster.

> As a guitarist, you could use it to slow down a riff you are
> trying to learn. Other instruments are available...

This is very useful. Much better than slowing a 33.3 RPM LP down to
16 and dealing with the octave drop. I wrecked a lot of records that
way.

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >,
John Battersby > wrote:
>I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
>quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
>settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
>encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
>remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
>than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
>purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
>track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.

Taking dictation.
Reverse-engineering a tune or arrangement to learn to play it.
Skipping over the boring parts of lectures without totally losing track.
Dance practice.

These days, adding features like this is a matter of software, so it's
all up-front cost and doesn't actually add anything to the cost of
manufacture. So if you're making a million of something, it's to your
benefit to add as many features as possible in order to get every possible
buyer to purchase it. If you're making ten of something, it's to your
benefit to make exactly what the ten buyers want with nothing else.
This is a product made in the millions.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[JackA]

On Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 12:05:15 PM UTC-4, John Battersby wrote:
> I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
> quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
> settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
> encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
> remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
> than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
> purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
> track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.

Back in the days, record companies would speed up recordings [2%+] since they felt it made the song(s) sound better. What you have can be found in both Windows Media Player and Audacity (software). What purpose? Depends. It's like asking why Microsoft needed to purchase HDCD from Pacific Microsonics.. HDCD, what a joke.

Jack

>
> Thanks,
> John

[Murray[_8_]]

On Sunday, 24 April 2016 02:05:15 UTC+10, John Battersby wrote:
Anyway, one of the settings is variable speed playback.

Years ago I was training as a ballroom dancer.
We used the speed control to slow down the BPM so we could keep to time and minimise our errors when learning a new routine.

DJ's vary track speed so they can do beat matching and blend one track into another without an apparent sync loss.

[JackA]

On Sunday, April 24, 2016 at 8:20:58 PM UTC-4, Murray wrote:
> On Sunday, 24 April 2016 02:05:15 UTC+10, John Battersby wrote:
> Anyway, one of the settings is variable speed playback.
>
> Years ago I was training as a ballroom dancer.
> We used the speed control to slow down the BPM so we could keep to time and minimise our errors when learning a new routine.
>
> DJ's vary track speed so they can do beat matching and blend one track into another without an apparent sync loss.

Logical answer!!

Jack

[Ty Ford]

On Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 12:05:15 PM UTC-4, John Battersby wrote:
> I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
> quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
> settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
> encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
> remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
> than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
> purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
> track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.
>
> Thanks,
> John

If you're trying to learn a particular lick from a record, sometimes slowing it down helps.

I think the thought that record companies sped things up may not be accurate. I do know that in the days of radio when turntables were used, that custom capstans were machined to make the turntables play faster because it was thought that a song played a little faster would sound more exciting on radio station A than the regular speed on radio station B.

It also meant that there was more time to slip in another commercial or two per hour.

Live or on-camera narrators sometimes use an ear bug when prompter isn't available. They record the script then play it back and talk along with it. Speed control allows the performer to change the speed of the delivery. I think I still have a varispeed cassette player I used for that.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[[email protected]]

Ty Ford wrote: "think the thought that record companies sped things up may not be accurate. I do know that in the days of
radio when turntables were used, that custom capstans were machined to make the turntables play faster because it was
thought that a song played a little faster"

And something no one on this thread bothered to mention: the
speeding up of music played by radio stations to fit in "More
songs per hour!!" or some such slogan.

[JackA]

On Monday, April 25, 2016 at 9:14:36 AM UTC-4, wrote:
> Ty Ford wrote: "think the thought that record companies sped things up may not be accurate. I do know that in the days of
> radio when turntables were used, that custom capstans were machined to make the turntables play faster because it was
> thought that a song played a little faster"
>
> And something no one on this thread bothered to mention: the
> speeding up of music played by radio stations to fit in "More
> songs per hour!!" or some such slogan.

Shorter recordings meant more jukebox plays!

Jack

[geoff]

On 24/04/2016 4:05 a.m., John Battersby wrote:
> I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
> quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
> settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when
> it encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
> remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
> than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
> purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
> track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.
>
> Thanks,
> John


If you are on speed or methamphetamine you just might not have *time* to
listen to a song in normal time ;-0

geoff

[Gareth Magennis[_3_]]

"Murray" wrote in message
...


DJ's vary track speed so they can do beat matching and blend one track into
another without an apparent sync loss.





I suspect this is the primary reason for this function.

Gareth.

[[email protected]]

On Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 10:05:15 AM UTC-6, John Battersby wrote:
> I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
> quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
> settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
> encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
> remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
> than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
> purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
> track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.
>
> Thanks,
> John

I use the variable speed settings for two purposes:

1) To study languages. It is very handy in that if the native speaker is speaking too fast I can slow it down to be able to hear the nuances of the pronunciation better. Later once I have the dialog down I can speed it back up to match the native speaker.

2) I use it while listening to audio books while traveling or exercising. If the book is dragging or the reader is very slow I can speed up the audio. Or if it is an information-dense book (lots of good ideas one right after the other) I can slow it down to better catch the ideas that the author is presenting...

I'm sure there are other uses but I use the feature for those two purposes all the time. Hope that helps
Mark

[Tobiah]

A lot of people like to slow down music they are trying to learn
by ear, such as a favorite guitar solo.



On 01/05/2018 01:41 PM, wrote:
> On Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 10:05:15 AM UTC-6, John Battersby wrote:
>> I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
>> quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
>> settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
>> encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
>> remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
>> than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
>> purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
>> track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John
>
> I use the variable speed settings for two purposes:
>
> 1) To study languages. It is very handy in that if the native speaker is speaking too fast I can slow it down to be able to hear the nuances of the pronunciation better. Later once I have the dialog down I can speed it back up to match the native speaker.
>
> 2) I use it while listening to audio books while traveling or exercising. If the book is dragging or the reader is very slow I can speed up the audio. Or if it is an information-dense book (lots of good ideas one right after the other) I can slow it down to better catch the ideas that the author is presenting...
>
> I'm sure there are other uses but I use the feature for those two purposes all the time. Hope that helps
> Mark
>

[[email protected]]

Am Freitag, 5. Januar 2018 22:41:43 UTC+1 schrieb :
> On Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 10:05:15 AM UTC-6, John Battersby wrote:
> > I just picked up a cheap AGPtEK mp3 player that, so far, I have been
> > quite impressed with considering the cheap price. Anyway, one of the
> > settings is variable speed playback. I set it below normal and when it
> > encountered an MP3 file, the song played slower in speed, but pitch
> > remained constant (this function didn't seem to work on anything other
> > than MP3 files (not FLAC, for example)). Anyway, I'm wondering what
> > purpose this has? In the studio, matching singer pitch maybe to a
> > track, but jogging or listening in the car, not sure why.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John
>
> I use the variable speed settings for two purposes:
>
> 1) To study languages. It is very handy in that if the native speaker is speaking too fast I can slow it down to be able to hear the nuances of the pronunciation better. Later once I have the dialog down I can speed it back up to match the native speaker.
>
> 2) I use it while listening to audio books while traveling or exercising. If the book is dragging or the reader is very slow I can speed up the audio. Or if it is an information-dense book (lots of good ideas one right after the other) I can slow it down to better catch the ideas that the author is presenting...
>
> I'm sure there are other uses but I use the feature for those two purposes all the time. Hope that helps
> Mark

Hello,
I have read your post
Please could you recommend me a mp3 player with variable speed playback. Not like jumping from 1,00x to 1,25x but in lower steps from 1,05 to 1,1 for example.

I would really appreciate that, because I am kind of unable to find one.

Martin

[Gregory Allen]

> Hello,
> I have read your post
> Please could you recommend me a mp3 player with variable speed playback. Not like jumping from 1,00x to 1,25x but in lower steps from 1,05 to 1,1 for example.
>
> I would really appreciate that, because I am kind of unable to find one.
>
> Martin

Hi Martin,

I use an old SanDisk Sansa clip, but I can highly recommend the Rockbox custom firmware. You can use it with lots of different devices, and it allows for a lot more customisation than you usually get with the default, smooth variable speed playback being one notable feature.

https://www.rockbox.org

Cheers,
Greg

[[email protected]]

Am Montag, 24. September 2018 15:56:05 UTC+2 schrieb Gregory Allen:
> > Hello,
> > I have read your post
> > Please could you recommend me a mp3 player with variable speed playback.. Not like jumping from 1,00x to 1,25x but in lower steps from 1,05 to 1,1 for example.
> >
> > I would really appreciate that, because I am kind of unable to find one..
> >
> > Martin
>
> Hi Martin,
>
> I use an old SanDisk Sansa clip, but I can highly recommend the Rockbox custom firmware. You can use it with lots of different devices, and it allows for a lot more customisation than you usually get with the default, smooth variable speed playback being one notable feature.
>
> https://www.rockbox.org
>
> Cheers,
> Greg

Hi Greg,

Many thanks for these tips indeed. It seems that this firmware works same on all mentioned devices there. So you can adjust variable speed of the given track with increment/ decrement of 1% ? (if I understood 1 manual correctly) and at the same time pitch is not bend - that is absolutely hilarious since I need that for language learning too :). Until now I had to use software and then copy my input back to device.

I have ipod shuffle - pitty that i found out the rockbox will not work on that.
It seems i will not juggle with lot of mp3 players options and just buy that sandisk sansa clip sport now called :)

Martin
Slovakia