Without CDs from MARS HILL AUDIO, how do we then listen?

We’re sorry for the inconveniences incurred by our decision to abandon this medium of delivering sound to our listeners. We’ve made this decision for necessary economic reasons (explained here). Don’t fret: we’re not giving in to the Gnostic temptations encouraged by many modern technologies (as this page argues).

Below are six ways that listeners who long enjoyed CDs (and possibly cassette tapes before that) can continue listening.

Please note that for all of the listening options below, in order to listen to the digital version you must be registered for an account on our website. This establishes a link between you and your subscriptions and purchases. If you’ve never set up an account with us — having relied on mail and the phone to place orders — the instructions for registering are on this page. If you run into any problems registering, e-mail us at support@marshillaudio.org.

Once you’ve registered, here are some options for continuing to renew your mind by using your ears:

1. Install our app on a phone or tablet

2. Stream audio with an internet browser

3. Download audio files and listen on your computer’s music player

4. Burn your own CDs

5. Listen on a portable MP3 player

6. Plug a USB flash drive into your vehicle’s audio system

Options 2 and 3 are best if you listen at home or at work near your computer.

1. Listen on the MHA app

The MARS HILL AUDIO app is the medium we recommend first. It is the most streamlined and least confusing of the options. If you already own a smart phone or tablet, you can search for our free app in the iTunes App Store or in the Google Play Store (depending on whether you use iOS or Android). This option is also the only option that gives you free access to extra content from MARS HILL AUDIO. On a regular basis, we release free audio features available to all app users. If you are a subscriber or have purchased digital copies of our other audio products, you can listen to all of your purchases from the My Library feature on the app as well.

Note that if you are used to listening while driving, mobile devices with apps connect easily to the audio system in most vehicles, either with a short and inexpensive cable plugged into the headphone jack, or wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection.

Even though our app is not currently available on Amazon’s Kindle store, it is possible to install it on a Kindle Fire. If you have a bit of tech savvy and want to know more about this possibility, e-mail us at support@marshillaudio.org.

2. Stream audio through a web browser

When you log in on our website with any browser, you can access the My Library page from which you may stream any of your purchased audio material. This option works well for people who are at home or in an office while listening. Especially if your computer has a superior audio system and your internet service is reliable, this is a good option.

3. Download audio files & play them on your computer

If you download the audio files for each issue of the Journal from your My Library page on our website, you will also receive a playlist file along with the MP3 files for that issue. The playlist file name ends with “.m3u”. If you double click on this file, it will automatically open the Journal issue within your computer’s default MP3 player. These playlists can also help you keep your MHA content well organized.

4. Burn your own CDs

If you’d like to continue listening on CD, you can burn your own CDs if you have access to a CD burner. (In case you are unaware, “burning” is the term to describe the copying of files — including audio files — to a blank CD). Older computers may have an internal CD drive, but note that not every internal CD drive is capable of burning CDs. Small external CD drives – not much bigger than a multi-disc CD case — can be purchased for about $30. A single CD can contain all of a Journal volume’s segments if it is burned as what’s called the “MP3 CD” format. These capacious discs are playable on most stand-alone CD players and all but the oldest (prior to 2009) vehicle CD players.

If your CD player can play MP3 CDs, you will only need a single disc for each volume of the Journal. If your CD player will only play conventional CDs, you will need 2 blank discs (some Journal volumes will require 3 discs).

This page has more instructions about burning CDs.

5. Transfer downloaded files from your computer to a mobile player

Before there were smart phones and tablets, there were iPods and other MP3 players. You can still purchase an iPod Touch (new or used), which is more like a smartphone than an iPod, and other MP3 players are still very much in use. They range in price from about $30 to hundreds of dollars for audiophile listeners.

All Bluetooth players feature a headphone jack; if your vehicle has an auxiliary input jack in its audio system, this is a simple way to listen while on the road.

Many MP3 players even come with Bluetooth capability now, another convenient way to listen in your car or truck.

Each MP3 player has slightly different methods of transfering and organizing audio files, so it is impossible for us to give exact instructions to cover every possibility. If you run into questions, e-mail us at support@marshillaudio.org and we’ll try to help.

6. A USB flashdrive solution

The audio systems in many vehicles have a USB port. If you put audio files on a flashdrive (also known as “thumbdrives”), your audio player will probably begin playing them as soon as you plug the drive into the port.

This method requires no special software on your computer. Simply copy our audio files (once you’ve downloaded them) from your computer onto a flashdrive, plug it into the port in your car or truck, and start listening.

Because different audio systems have different ways of determining the order in which audio files are played back, you’ll have to do a bit of research to determine whether you can organize the files on a flashdrive to play the tracks in the order in which they were intended (unless you enjoy a random shuffle of MHA interviews).

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