MP3 Players

Buying an MP3 Player

Types of MP3 Player

There are three principal types of MP3 player, each with its own advantages and disadvantages: mp3 flash players, hard drive MP3 players and multimedia players.

Memory Flash MP3 Players

These include players with integrated memory, those with separate memory cards together with players with USB drives. These are usually at the cheaper end of the price scale and generally of smaller dimensions. Memory ranges from some 64mb through to around 1GB (although this is constantly increasing) holding between 15 and 100 music tracks. They are easy to use, fashionable designed and with no moving parts are shock resistant and thus ideal for use whilst exercising.

Hard drive MP3 Players

For those with large music collections, hard drive players are generally able to store between 1,000 to over 15,000 music tracks with storage capacity ranging from some 2GB to over 40GB. These players are necessarily larger but are still pocket sized. Functionally they are similar to their memory flash equivalents. Hard drive MP3 players often include small displays showing track and artist details and navigation menus. Some colour screen offerings are also able to store and display photos. Some will even download memory cards from digital cameras onto their hard disk for viewing. Other options include linking them to the car hi-fi and using external speakers.

Multimedia Players

Multimedia players have larger hard drives and are thus larger and more weighty than other types of MP3 players. They usually include a large colour screen for photo display and for video playback, allowing you to watch movies. Some ave integrated video inputs and encoding systems and could potentially replace a video recorder. Other have rich functionality similar to PDAs or handheld computers including an operating system and applications.

Understanding Music File Types

Despite the fact that MP3 format is the most common way in which digital audio is stored, there are a large and potentially confusing array of file types in use. All of them have the same goal - to store as much music as possible in the smallest possible space, Inevitably, not all players are able to support all file types to it is vital that you choose a player that supports the types you are likely to require.

Music downloaded from popular online resources, such as Napster or iTunes, embody DRM (digital rights management). DRM is designed to prevent the illegal sharing of files and may also limit the number of times that you can play a particular track; burn it to a CD or transfer it to a portable player. Some players are unable to support DRM and cannot use files with this feature.The main file types are:

MP3

Playable on virtually all portable players. Does not embody DRM.

WMA

A Microsoft proprietary format, claimed to be of higher quality than MP3 size for size. Used by various online stores including Napster. Also the default file type for CDs created using Microsoft Windows Media Player. WMA files may contain DRM, so it is essential that you check that any player you are considering is able to support them.

AAC

Used by Apple's iTunes music store. Playable on an Apple iPod, but few other players support it. The AAC format itself doesn't embody DRM, but the files downloyou download from iTunes are in a DRM 'wrapper', thus limiting usage.

WAV

Uncompressed audio files and therefore enormous. Most players can play wav files, but why would you want to use up so much space?