A very important part of having an effective Japanese environment is audio. If you have set it up right you should not be able to hide from it, ever. If you live in a small apartment this is not really a problem since you can simply use your computer’s speakers and you should be able to hear it throughout the house. But I ask you, is this really good enough? You like doing stuff with your computer right? I mean that is why you bought it correct? I hope that the "stuff" you are doing would be to the forwarding of your Japanese, even if it isn’t you will find yourself turning that music or audio off, by this I mean T.M. Revolution is great and all but it just does not mix that well with, say a Japanese Drama. Now here is the problem, your human, yes that is a really big issue and worst of all there is no cure, this means that you will forget to turn that audio back on. Of course you might remember some of the time, but why should you? We both already know your memory is not infallible; otherwise you would be able to look at a Japanese grammar book and then a Japanese vocabulary book and be done with Japanese since you would be a Japanese master, right?
Well we both know that it does not work like that and so you should not plan as if it did, don’t let risk become a factor in your success where it doesn’t have to, a proper Japanese environment is foolproof, so let’s see how we can make your audio exposure impossible to mess up.
Audio source
Unfortunately nothing is quite as versatile as a computer so you might have to make a bit of sacrifice in regards to audio variety. If your audio source was mp3s or CDs then you’re in luck since at most you might have to put up with a subset of your full library. If you were using streamed internet radio you will have to put up a fair bit of pocket change to get something stand alone that will do this. Streamed video is perhaps the hardest yet most rewarding due to thigns like keyhole TV and Livestation, don’t despair though, there is an, option covered later in this post.
Coverage
Chances are only one sound source will just not do it, if this is the case don’t worry you do not have to double your investment, just add an abstraction level.
Say you had an mp3 player plugged into something for constant charging and you had it playing music 24/7 through a set of speakers. An easy way to double the number of sound sources, speakers, would be to us a FM radio transmitter. You now would have an mp3 player plugged into something for constant charging with it playing music 24/7 and the audio jack going to a FM transmitter which is also plugged into for a power source, then you have a radio in your bedroom set to your radio station as well as one in your computer room . Done, I mean you have two sound sources now right, shouldn’t this be enough? Well, Ha! Enough is never enough, let’s see what it would take to add a third radio, Step one, turn on radio, Step two, tune to station, Step three, there is no step three.
Here lies one of the greatest parts of using a FM transmitter, not only is setup easy but your costs are silly low. Take a quick stock of your house, how many radios do you have? Chances are you have plenty, but if you don’t all you need to do is go down to your favorite big box retailer and buy the cheapest one they have. You don’t need any features other than FM reception and some speakers, no need for an audio in jack or CD player or iPod docking station.
Tools
I would expect that the average person would be able to create a single stand alone sound source, such as a CD player with a burned CD set to repeat, with things they already have. For the more complex systems you will likely have to invest in something, be that a FM transmitter, streaming internet radio or a mp3 capable of playing while charging (A feature sadly lacking on most if not all big name mp3 players, yet common on the cheap Chinese models). I suggest you look online for anything you need especially if you are getting an FM transmitter since this is one of those things stores love to make big money on.
The, option
Oh what would be a good metaphor for this, how about, kill an ant with a shotgun. Oh I see, you have no clue what I am talking about, well I expect as much seeing as how I have not mentioned, the, option yet. Ok so you see there is this option, it is a very, good, option and would allow you all the power of a computer and still be stand alone. This option the overkill option is, a computer, well not just any computer, a second computer. If you are a geek, chances are you have thought about making a home server a number of times, if you are not a geek this option might not be for you. If you do not have a second spare computer you can see about finding a cheap one from your local computer recycler, I would expect to pay around $80 to $150, a very reasonable price. Make sure whatever you get is actually capable of using the software you want, beyond that you can skip getting a monitor provided you are comfortable using remote desktop software such as VNC. If you are going to go this route there is quite a bit about it already written about home servers throughout the internet, a simple Google search will reveal what you need to know.
Inconclusion
No matter what option you go with the important thing is that you do use something. If you are not ready to go all the way start with the simplest thing, remember the goal is that Japanese always be present in your environment, there are no penalties for having multiple audio sources playing at once.
