1. In a computing device having limited processing resources, a method for adding an original sound effect file to a first media item, the method comprising: determining one or more formatting characteristics of the first media item; receiving an indication of the one or more formatting characteristics of the first media item at a conversion unit; receiving the original sound effect file at the conversion unit; creating a modified sound effect file by updating the selected formatting characteristics of the original sound effect file to match the one or more formatting characteristics of the first media item, wherein the modified sound effect file is created by the conversion unit; wherein the updating selected formatting characteristics includes formatting a copy of the original sound effect file so as to have a substantially similar format as the first media item including (i) altering a bit depth of the original sound effect file to match a bit depth of the first media item, (ii) altering a sample rate of the original sound effects file to match a sample rate of the first media item, and (iii) when necessary, altering a channel count of the original sound effect file to match a channel count of the first media item such that the bit depth, the sample rate and the channel count of the modified sound effect file match the bit depth, the sample rate and the channel count of the first media item; adding the first media item and the modified sound effect file to create a modified first media item by an adder unit; and outputting the modified first media item or the sound effect file through a first and a second audio output device at essentially the same time, wherein one of the first and second audio output devices is a headphone lack of the portable computing device and the other of the first and second audio output devices is a speaker of the portable computing device.