I) ENABLING PLAYSAY FILES ON YOUR COMPUTER & MP3 PLAYER

A) Getting PlaySay Files to display & function correctly outside of iTunes and/or an Apple mp3 player device (i.e. the iPod)

II) USING PLAYSAY FILES ON YOUR IPOD

A) First Things First - The Difference Between List View and Play View
B) Playing Bulk Vocabulary by JLPT Level and Language Direction
C) NEW v1.2 Feature – Mini Vocab Study Playlists! (Grouped in “Genre”)
D) Shuffling Vocabulary
E) Moving Individual Vocabulary to a Custom Playlist within your iPod
F) Studying Individual Kanji on your iPod

I) ENABLING PLAYSAY FILES ON YOUR COMPUTER & MP3 PLAYER

PlaySay files are compatible on both MAC and PC platforms and portable mp3 player devices (iPod, Zune, etc.). All PlaySay files are initially formatted for iTunes and Apple products (i.e. the iPod). If you want to use PlaySay files through any other mp3 player computer program (i.e. Windows Media Player) or mp3 player portable device (i.e. the Zune), you must only perform one simple step described below.

A) Getting PlaySay Files to display & function correctly outside of iTunes and/or an Apple mp3 player device (i.e. the iPod)

1.) As PlaySay files are initially formatted for Apple products (i.e. the iPod), you must initially use iTunes to make your PlaySay files compatible with other mp3 player computer programs and/or mp3 player portable devices other than the iPod, iTouch, and iPhone. Download the free trial of iTunes through Apple's website: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. In iTunes, click: Edit > Preferences > Advanced > General. In the "General" window, Make sure the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" option is unchecked. Click "OK" at the bottom of the "General" window. Import all PlaySay files into iTunes from the folder where your PlaySay files are stored on your hard drive. Select all PlaySay files within iTunes. Right Click while your mouse is over all of the selected files, and choose the "Convert ID3 Tags" option. Under "ID3 Tag Version", select "v2.3" in the drop-down option box. Click "OK". Wait until the conversion is finished, then close iTunes. All PlaySay files in the folder of your hard drive are now ready to be used in any other mp3 player computer program and/or mp3 player portable device. You can even delete and/or uninstall iTunes if you would like, as this will not affect the PlaySay files in the initial folder of your hard drive where the PlaySay files are stored.

Download:

* PLEASE NOTE:

For iPods, the iTouch, and/or the iPhone, please notice your device's storage/processing capacity on http://www.apple.com/ipod/whichipod/, including both file size and file count limitations. PlaySay cannot support or hold liability for users attempting to exceed such storage/processing capacities on any type of iPod, iTouch, and/or iPhone.

We have successfully tested and used a random group of 7,000 PlaySay files (1 GB) at one time on all 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generations of all types of iPods, the iTouch, and the iPhone, except for the 3rd generation iPod Nano which we experienced processing issues with. Thus, we do not recommend attempting to hold or use more than 1,000 files at the same time on a 3rd generation 4GB iPod Nano, or more than 2,000 files on a 3rd generation 8GB iPod Nano (as specified by Apple Inc. on http://www.apple.com/ipod/whichipod/).

II) USING PLAYSAY FILES ON YOUR IPOD

Once all of your PlaySay Files are imported into your iTunes and are being displayed correctly, you can do many things to make your PlaySay JLPT study much more efficient. We strongly recommend performing each of the following steps:

A.) First Things First – The Difference Between List View and Play View

To use PlaySay files the way they were designed to be use in the iPod, you must first know the difference between List View and Play View:

List View - Screenshot which shows all of the vocabulary/song titles within a playlist, album, genre, composer, etc.
Play View - Screenshot which shows only the vocabulary/song title which is currently being played

To use PlaySay files most effectively, please get in the habit of always getting to the List View first (regardless of studying custom playlists, albums, individual kanji, etc,), and then click the Play button over a vocabulary/song title within the List View to go to the Play View. This is opposed to simply clicking the Play button over a custom playlist name, album name, etc.). You will understand the reasoning for this once you begin using creating custom small-group vocabulary/kanji playlists, shuffling, moving individual vocabulary/kanji to custom playlists, etc. Just trust us! =)

B) Playing Bulk Vocabulary by JLPT Level and Direction

Every individual PlaySay File includes an Album Label which notes its JLPT Level as well as its language direction. For example, a file`s Album Label of JLPT Level 3 which says English first, and then the Japanese counterpart (as well as displays the English vocabulary first, and then automatically scrolls its Japanese counterpart into view) would look like this:
“JLPT 3 (E to J)”Of course, you can play/study your PlaySay Files in bulk by their Album name(s). However, we only feel as this is useful once you have completed studying the entire JLPT Level vocabulary. Just like physical flashcards, you want to study vocabulary in separate small groups, right?

C) NEW v1.2 Feature – Mini Vocab Study Playlists! (Grouped in “Genre”)

* Efficiently study vocabulary in groups of 25 words at-a-time! All current v1.2 JLPT PlaySay files have unique vocabulary group tags within the “Genre” ID3 Tag, which allows for convenient and highly efficient study in groups of 25 words (in both directions: English-to-Japanese & Japanese-to-English). The following (Section C) may be ignored if you have v1.2 PlaySay files.  

Making small groups of vocabulary will allow for practical step-by-step study. This will allow you to study, for example, 25 total vocabulary words at a time – both from English to Japanese and Japanese to English. This means the playlist will have a total of 50 words - 25 E to J; 25 J to E (50 total words but only 25 total unique vocabulary). You will be able to automatically shuffle these 50 vocabulary words, just as you would with physical flashcards.

Please trust us and just get this small (but most significant)
task out of the way before anything else =).

Although this takes some time, the time is nothing compared to the study efficiency you gain from such small group playlists. For example, if each playlist takes you a little more than 10 seconds to make, you will only loose the following amount of time:

Completing small-group vocabulary Playlists for all of JLPT 4:     5 minutes
Completing small-group vocabulary Playlists for all of JLPT 3:     5 minutes
Completing small-group vocabulary Playlists for all of JLPT 2:     25 minutes
Completing small-group vocabulary Playlists for all of JLPT 1:     20 minutes

1. In iTunes, first make a new playlist titled “2” (using JLPT Level 2 as an example)
2. Move all JLPT Level 2 Vocabulary (both E to J and J to E) into the playlist
3. View the new “2” Playlist, and make sure the “File Size” attribute is displayed
4. Sort the entire “2” Playlist by the “File Size” attribute
5. Make two new playlists titled “2a” and “2b” (for example)
6. Select files 1 – 50 from playlist “2” and drag them into the “2a” playlist. Select files 51 – 100 from playlist “2” and drag them into the “2b” playlist.
7. Repeat this process for the entire JLPT Level accordingly

You now have small groups of vocabulary for your JLPT Level that you can study individually (both ways: E to J and J to E) just as you would with physical flashcards. Within the playlist, although a few of the words may not have there opposite language direction counterparts (E to J or J to E), this is no problem – their counterparts will surely be in the next/following small group playlist. We have found that this is actually beneficial, as you`re thrown a few surprises here and there to make sure you truly remembered the vocabulary from the previous small group playlist. Once you have memorized a complete small group playlist, simply move on to the next small group playlist within your level accordingly (i.e. move from “2a” to “2b”). We know this all sounds so confusing and difficult – just do it, and we guarantee you`ll completely understand the process and see the incredible study efficiency benefits within your first few uses.

D) Shuffling Vocabulary

Probably the coolest feature of PlaySay Files in the iPod is the ability to shuffle them, just as you would with physical flashcards.

1. In your iPod “settings”, simply choose to “shuffle” > “songs”
2. Find the playlist you want to study, and click the middle button over the playlist name, and once inside of the playlist click the Play button on any song]

E) Moving Individual Vocabulary to a Custom Playlist within your iPod

It is important to note that for you to be able to move an individual vocabulary to a custom playlist, you must have originally clicked the center button over the playlist name to be in List View, and then have clicked the play button on any of the songs within the playlist List View (regardless of if you are shuffling or not). If you have originally done this, simply:

1. Within the playlist List View, locate the desired vocabulary/song, and simply hold the center button down for two seconds. This will move that individual vocabulary/song to the “On the Go” Playlist (located within your playlists).
2. Once you connect your iPod to your computer/iTunes, drag the vocabulary in your “On the Go” Playlist into wherever you wish.

1. Press MENU to return to List View, and then locate the song within the playlist List View by finding the speaker icon to the right of the song title
2. With the cursor over the song title, hold the center button down for two seconds. This will move that individual vocabulary/song to the “On the Go” Playlist (located within your playlists).

* As this method is obviously cumbersome, we recommend
following the below procedures for optimum study efficiency

We recommend using this function for vocabulary you do not know after you study an entire playlist a few times, or vocabularies that are particularly giving you trouble within a playlist. The best way to do this is to study the playlist in shuffle mode until you have grasped most of the vocabulary. When you want to identify and move the vocabulary which is giving you trouble, deactivate shuffle mode, and go through the playlist in regular mode which will allow you to more-easily move individual vocabulary to the “On the Go” playlist. You can go through studying multiple playlists, moving only the vocabulary from each playlist into the “On the Go” playlist. Every now and then go back to your “On the Go” playlist to tackle those particular vocabulary which continue to give you trouble. At any time you can move the vocabulary from your “On the Go” playlist to another custom playlist in your iTunes, and then empty your “On the Go” playlist if you prefer.

F) Studying individual Kanji on your iPod

Yet another of the coolest features of PlaySay`s unique (and patented) File format is the ability for you to simply study individual Kanji on your iPod (with or without audio). You can study Kanji both language directions – E to J and/or J to E. You can create custom kanji playlists, shuffle, move individual kanji to custom playlists, etc. 

1. Click the center button over any playlist to view files in List View
2. Scroll the cursor over kanji…try to remember what it is…wait for the hiragana and English definition to appear
3. Follow the above steps for visa versa for E to J Kanji study