How to Play MP3s and or MP4s on a Mobile Device for mLearning: Part 1 - mLearning Playback on Your Laptop

Most folks who own a mobile device such as a laptop, an MP3/MP4 player , or a smart-phone , are tech-savvy people who know the ins and outs of their device's working s and can easily transfer media to it. For others, mLearning is a new delivery mode for training, the device and media type are new, or the thought of this technology just plain scares them. If so, this tutorial is for you...

Some assumptions before we begin:

• Mobile learning or mLearning as we refer to it, is a great medium for quickly delivering brief chunks of important information out to your workforce or students. Some instructional design should be going into when and how it is used. mLearning is not meant for teaching arduous HOWTOs or the type of things people would better learn hands-on. At the same time, it is best suited for the “learner on-the-go.” You know the types, the sales people, the students, or the field-techs who need a quick byte of info on the way to their next customer, meeting, or class. mLearning in the form of audio and video files is for knowledge-transfer only.

• I will cover how to play MP3 audio files and MP4 video files for mLearning purposes. I will cover how to create them in another article. The procedures that follow can be applied to most file types, but I reference MP3s and MP4s because they are the most device agnostic formats – meaning they are fairly neutral file types that can be easily created and played on most mobile devices. Podcasts are commonly distributed as MP3s while vid-casts are commonly distributed as MP4s.
  

• The tutorials are instructions or routes-to-play an MP3 audio file or an MP4 video file on a type of mobile device only. Because the number of device brands and models are myriad, the instructions are generic except where the specified route-to-play indicates otherwise. Likewise any software and application instructions are also generic.

• I will cover playing MP3s and MP4s for mLearning in four parts, starting with the most easily accessible device classes:

1. mLearning Playback on Your Laptop
2. mLearning Playback from a CD
3. mLearning Playback on an MP3/MP4 Player or Smartphones such as iPhone and Android
   
4. mLearning Playback on a Smartphone
   

• Laptops and include any type of laptop or netbook. MP3 and MP4 players include any type of iPod, iRiver, Touch, Zune, etc. Smart-phones refer to ultra-capable handhelds based on the Android platform, iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, or BlackBerry.

Part 1: Play mLearning on a Laptop

Most folks who can access mLearning have a laptop. We will get to doing this with MP3/MP4 players and Smartphones later. The instructions for play on a laptop assume that you are running Internet Explorer or Firefox. I will warn you now, the instructions that follow are basic and simple. They involve saving the audio or video file locally to your device and clicking to play them.

Play MP3 or MP4 > Play on Laptop > Play Direct from Browser or Email

These instructions assume you have a live connection to the Internet and that you are accessing content sent to you through hyperlink enclosed in an email send to you or from a web page in your web browser.

1. From the appropriate web page or email, click on the hyperlink provided for the MP3 or MP4 files.
2. If prompted to display non-secure items, click Yes (assuming you trust the source).
3. If a library or wrapper for several MP3 or MP4 titles is displayed, click on the one link you want to listen to.
4. The MP3 you selected should open and play in your default audio/video player (typically Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, or iTunes).
   

Play MP3 or MP4 > Play on Laptop > Save to Laptop and Play

These instructions assume you temporarily have a live connection to the Internet so you can save MP3 and MP4 files, but then need to play them later while disconnected from the Internet, such as when at an airport, on a plane, or on a train.

1. From the appropriate web page or email, click on the hyperlink provided for the MP3 or MP4 files.
2. If prompted to display non-secure items, click Yes (assuming you trust the source).
3. Click on the MP3 or MP4 title-link you want to save.
4. Select Save Target As… (or Save link As... depending on your browser). You may want to change the directory where this is saved or save to a new directory you name “mLearning.”
5. Navigate to the directory of your choosing from the Save As window.
6. Click Save.
7. Once you a ready to play, navigate to where you saved the file and click on the MP3/MP4 title-link you want to listen to.
8. The MP3/MP4 you selected should open and play in your default audio/video player (Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, or iTunes). If you want to switch to a different player, close out, right click on the file you want to play, select Open with... and select the player you want to use.
   

Say tuned... we will review how to Play mLearning on an MP3 or MP4 Player in Part 2.