Here is a cool trick for secret agents or anyone with something to hide. This article will show you how to use your mp3 player as a means of carrying secret messages no one will be able to find - even if they have possession of your player. All you need is an mp3 player and a computer and you’re good to go.

This method of storing secret information is known as steganography. It functions by storing a file within the extra bits of another file so that the former is completely hidden from view. In fact, its very existence is hidden to everyone but you. Here’s how to do it for a text or image file that you wish to hide, let’s say hiddenImage.jpg.

1)Find an mp3 file (any mp3 file) that you would like to contain the hidden message. For this example, let’s call it anySong.mp3.

2)Move both files (the image and the mp3) to the same folder on your computer. For this example, they will both be moved to the desktop.

3)Open your command prompt (Start -> Run ->type “cmd”)

4)Within the command prompt navigate to where the files are stored (desktop for example) and enter the following command:

copy hiddenImage.jpg /b + anySong.mp3 /b newSong.mp3

then hit enter. In the above command, hiddenImage.jpg is the secret image we want to hide, anySong.mp3 is an mp3 file that we want to use, and newSong.mp3 is a new mp3 file that contains the original song and the hidden image file.

If you entered the command correcly, you should see a message saying “1 file(s) copied.” in the prompt window.

Now your hidden image should be successfully stored in your newSong.mp3 file. To test this drag your newSong.mp3 file into your music player of choice. The song should start playing just like any mp3 file would. Now take the same file and open it with an image viewer program (MS Paint, for example). The file that opens should be the image that you wanted to hide inside the mp3 file. This works because the application that you use to open the file will only read data that it understands. A music player will not understand the jpeg data, just like MS Paint will have no idea what the mp3 info is. However, both apps will recognize the information that they are supposed to know and will act accordingly.

Now you can transfer this file onto your mp3 player and you will have a totally hidden image or text file on your portable media device. If anyone had possession of your player, all they would see is mp3 files, and no one would no which file, if any, contained your secret data. To access the secret info again, all you will need to do is transfer the file to a computer and access it the same way you did before.

There are several ways to take this to more advanced levels if you desired. There are a number of programs that can automatically combine numerous files for you at a time. However, most of these applications are not free. The method explained here is strictly for the beginner steganographer but uses the easiest and cheapest means of hiding files.

*UPDATE* - After testing this a few more times on different setups I have received some different results. Currently the only media player that I can get to recognize the new file is WinAmp. iTunes and Windows Media Player both refuse to play the song. Also, after I have placed the file on my mp3 player the file is recognized as newSong.mp3 but says that there is a playback error when I attempt to listen to the track. However, this is still a viable means af transferring hidden data. The hidden image will still be retrievable from the mp3 player even thought the file won’t play successfully all the time - and no one browsing through your player will know that there is a hidden image inside a file that is listed as a song.