MP3 players

Newer models with color displays can show photos and videos

The MP3 player continues its evolution from simple audio player to complex multimedia device. Most players come with color displays and the ability to show digital photos transferred from your computer, sometimes with accompanying music. Many also play back movies, music videos, or TV shows, downloaded from the Web or videos taken with your camcorder.

As digital players morph, one thing remains constant: the brand name that’s on most of them. Apple’s iPod players account for more than three of four players sold. Hardware alone doesn’t explain Apple’s dominance. While iPods score well in our tests, so do players from other manufacturers, some of which offer capabilities and features that iPods lack.

Apple’s success rests in part on its creation of a self-contained digital-entertainment system. iTunes, its content-management software, works seamlessly--only with iPods. Its online iTunes store offers by far the largest library of online video content, supplementing its dominance over online music sales. It also offers comprehensive one-stop access to podcasts, the booming (and mostly free) online downloads that offer everything from National Public Radio broadcasts to music-preview shows to weekly self-help recordings.

And while you can play content obtained from the store (and use iTunes software) on virtually any computer, including Windows PCs and Macs, you need an iPod to enjoy it portably.

Not that all innovative content comes from Apple. Other legal online content sources include BuyMusic, MusicMatch, Napster, Real, Sony, URGE, Wal-Mart, and Yahoo. Unlike iTunes, some of these sites also offer subscription-based services that let you fill your PC or player with rented music for a flat $15 per month (the music stops playing if you don’t periodically dock your player an Internet-connected PC to confirm your account is in good standing). Downloaded songs from contemporary artists typically cost less than $1 per song, or $10 for an entire album; music videos, hit TV-show episodes, and short films cost $2 each. Players that support the copy-protected WMA formats, like those from Archos, Creative, RCA, and Samsung, allow access to the greatest number of online stores, and, because of the competition, cheaper music.

Before you buy any digital player, be sure your computer can handle it. New computers shouldn’t be a problem, but make sure any player you’re considering is compatible with your older Windows or Macintosh computer (including its operating system). Keep in mind that some operating-system upgrades can exceed the price of a player. Your computer must have a USB port. Consider high-speed Internet access if you plan to download much of your music. Also keep in mind that getting started can be tricky with some players. Even if compatible with the player, an older computer may not recognize it easily, so you might have to seek help from the manufacturer.


WHAT'S AVAILABLE



Major brands of digital music players include Apple, Archos, Cowon, Creative Labs, iRiver, Microsoft, Philips, RCA, SanDisk, Sony, and Toshiba. And MP3 playback has been incorporated into other handheld portable products, including CD players, cell phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Flash-memory players. These are the smallest and lightest players, often no bigger than a pack of gum, and they weigh no more than 2 or 3 ounces. They’re solid-state, meaning they have no moving parts, and tend to have longer audio playback time than players that use hard-disk storage. Storage capacities range from 512 megabytes (MB) to 8 gigabytes (GB), or about 120 to 2,000 songs. Some flash-memory players also have expansion slots to add more memory via card slots on the player. Common expansion-memory formats include Compact Flash, MultiMedia, Secure Digital, and SmartMedia. Sony players can use a MagicGate MemoryStick, a copyright-protected version of Sony’s existing MemoryStick media. Memory-card capacities range from about 32MB to 2GB. Memory costs have dropped. Price: $40 to $280 for the player; $20 to $50 for a 1GB memory card.

Hard-disk players. There are two types: microdrive and standard hard-disk. The palm-sized microdrive players have a tiny hard drive with a storage capacity of 4GB to 8GB (about 1,000 to 2,000 songs). They weigh about a quarter-pound. Standard hard-disk players are about the size of a deck of cards, and they have a storage capacity of 20GB to 160GB (about 5,000 to 40,000 songs). They typically weigh less than half a pound. Some hard-disk players with video capability have relatively larger displays, and as a result tend to be the bulkiest models. Price: $140 and up.

CD players with “MP3” compatibility. Flash-memory and hard-disk portable players aren’t the only way to enjoy digital music. Many of today’s portable CD players can play digital music saved on discs and can support the copyright-protected formats from online music stores. Controls and displays are comparable to portable MP3 players, and you can group songs on each disc according to artist, genre, and other categories. A CD, with its 650MB to 800MB storage capacity, can hold more than 10 hours of MP3-formatted music at the standard CD-quality setting. You can create MP3 CDs using the proper software and your PC’s CD burner. Price: $25 and up for the players; 15 cents to 75 cents or so for blank CDs.

Cell phones. An increasing number of phones have built-in MP3 players, some with controls and features that rival stand-alone players. Sprint, Verizon, and other cell-phone providers let subscribers download music over their networks. But music phones are pricey and most store fewer than 150 songs. Price: 99 cents to $2.50 per song; $150 and up for a phone with a two-year contract or $500 without one.

Satellite radio. Some pocket-sized XM and Sirius receivers have built-in memory for recording up to 50 hours of satellite programming and might also let you add your own MP3 songs to the mix. Not all models let you listen to live programming on the go; some must be docked at home. Price: $175 to $400 for the receiver; about $13 a month for satellite service.


HOW TO CHOOSE



Decide whether to get an iPod. With Apple’s family of players so ubiquitous and so similar in many ways, it’s worth considering the advantages and shortcomings of iPods before considering other options. iPods are easy to use, thanks to their superb integration with the company’s iTunes software. The iTunes Store offers the largest selection of legal digital content on the Web, including almost all the available downloads of major TV shows. And with the use of iTunes software so widespread, it’s very likely that a friend or family member already uses it--so you’ll need an iPod to share their songs or videos.

As for drawbacks, iPods typically cost a little more than non-Apple players with comparable capacity. They also lack some of the features and accessories that adapter with many other players, such as an FM radio, voice recorder, and an AC charger. Equipping a new iPod with some of these options can add more than $100 to its price. And iPods have some special limitations, such as the inability to easily transfer music to any other device.

Weigh capacity vs. size. Consider a flash-memory model (4GB can hold about 1,000 songs) if a lower price, smaller size, and lighter weight are more important to you than a vast selection of tunes. Opt for the largest-capacity flash player you can afford. Look for models that can accept external memory cards if you want expanded song capacity.

If you have a large music collection that you want to keep with you, a hard-disk player might make more sense. Players with an 80GB capacity can can hold up to 20,000 songs and could serenade you for weeks without repeating a tune. However, a hard-disk player can be more complicated to manage than a flash-memory player. Hard-disk players vary in size, generally in step with capacity. Microdrive players are about the size of a credit card, and a 6GB model can hold about 1,500 songs, whereas models with 30GB hard disks are about the size of a deck of cards and can hold about 7,500 songs.

Consider download choices. Be aware that online music copy-protected sources are limited with some models. For example, Sony players work only with one online music store, while iPods are compatible with iTunes and Real.

Consider power consumption and battery type. With any portable device, batteries are a consideration. Our tests found a wide variation in battery life. Depending on the player settings, some will run out of power after only six hours of play, while others can play music for more than 150 hours before their batteries give out. Playing videos can run a battery down in a few hours.

Consider ergonomics and design. Whichever type of MP3 player you choose, make sure you’ll be comfortable using it. Look for a display and controls that are easy to read and that can be worked with one hand. Because sizes and shapes vary widely, check to see that the player fits comfortably in your pockets and is easy to access when you need to need to reach the controls.

iPod shuffle is an iPod digital audio player designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 11, 2005, using the tagline "life is random." Instead of storing data on a hard disk, it was the first iPod to use flash memory. The current second generation model weighs about 15 grams (0.55 ounces). It was introduced in September 2006 along with the revamped fifth generation iPod and second generation iPod nano.

iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple and launched in October 2001. Devices in the iPod range are primarily digital audio players, designed around a central click wheel — with the exception of the iPod shuffle, which uses buttons because of its small size. As of September 2006, the line-up consists of the video-capable fifth generation iPod, the smaller second generation iPod nano, and the display-less second generation iPod shuffle. The iPod line used to contain the iPod mini, until being discontinued for the introduction of the iPod nano. The full-sized model stores media on an internal hard drive, while the iPod nano and iPod shuffle use flash memory due to their smaller size. Like many digital music players, iPods can also serve as external data storage devices.

Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a free jukebox application, iTunes stores an entire music library on the user's computer and can play, burn, and rip music from a CD. It can also transfer photos, videos, games, and calendars to the models that support them. Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. As of April 2007, the iPod had sold over 100 million units worldwide,[1] making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history.

Sony brand used to market its portable audio and video players, and is synonymously used to refer to the original Walkman portable personal stereo player and as a generic term for similar devices from other manufacturers. The original Walkman introduced a change in music listening habits, allowing people to carry their own choice of music with them.

MP3 CD is a term used to refer to compact discs (CD-R or CD-RW) that contain MP3 files. Discs are burned in data mode, as opposed to Red Book format as with standard audio CDs.

MP3 CDs are supported by several modern CD players. There are also CD players capable of playing wma and Vorbis files, and on Sony branded players, audio encoded to their ATRAC format.

A digital audio player (DAP) is a device that stores, organizes and plays audio files. It is more commonly referred to as an MP3 player because of the MP3 format's ubiquity, but DAPs often play many additional file formats. Some formats are proprietary, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA), and to a degree, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) and MP3. Some of these formats also may incorporate restrictive DRM technology, such as Janus and FairPlay, which are often part of certain paid download sites. Other formats are completely patent-free or otherwise open, such as Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Speex (all part of the Ogg open multimedia project), and Module file formats. There are three main types of digital audio players:

* Flash-based Players - These are solid state devices that hold digital audio files on internal or external media, such as memory cards. Due to technological limitations, these are relatively low-storage devices, commercially ranging from 128MB to 16GB, such as the second generation iPod nano, the SanDisk Sansa series of players, and the iriver clix, which can often be extended with additional memory. As they are solid state and do not have moving parts, they are very resilient. In effect, they do not suffer limitations that owners of Hard Drive-based players face, such as fears of dropping their player or fragmentation. Such players are commonly integrated into USB keydrives.
* Hard Drive-based Players or Digital Jukeboxes - Devices that read digital audio files from a hard drive. These players have higher capacities, ranging from 1.5GB to 160GB, depending on the hard drive technology. At typical encoding rates, this means that thousands of songs — perhaps an entire music collection — can be stored on one player. Because of the storage capacity, devices that also display video and pictures are often hard-drive based.
* MP3 CD Players - Devices that can play audio files from a CD-ROM in addition to audio CDs.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is an audio encoding format.

It uses a lossy compression algorithm that is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners. It was invented by a team of European engineers at Philips, CCETT (Centre commun d'études de télévision et télécommunications), IRT and Fraunhofer Society, who worked in the framework of the EUREKA 147 DAB digital radio research program, and it became an ISO/IEC standard in 1991.

MP3 is an audio-specific format. The compression removes certain parts of sound that are outside the normal human hearing range so cannot be heard by the listener. It provides a representation of pulse-code modulation — encoded audio in much less space than straightforward methods, by using psychoacoustic models to discard components less audible to human hearing, and recording the remaining information in an efficient manner. Similar principles are used by JPEG, an image compression format.

MP3 Player Sales to Soar
Think the iPod and mp3 players are the big craze now? Analysts predict that the current massive numbers of mp3 player sales are merely a fraction of what they will be in four years. Although it is hard to think that these little gems could sell in even larger numbers, the fact is that mp3 players will soon be the primary way of listening to music no matter where you live in the world.

Sony MP3 Players
Sony Mp3 Players have earned the status of being one of the best players on the market. The Sony Mp3 Players are quite versatile for style, looks, and of course accessories.

Choosing An MP3 Player To Groove To
If you've decided that you want get yourself a portable MP3 player, or digital music player, you've probably discovered that there are myriads of choices to choose from. Not only that, you can easily spend fifty dollars or five hundred dollars on an MP3 player.

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MP3 Downloads
MP3 is a popular encoding and compression format for digital audio. The term MP3 is an acronym for MPEG-1 Layer 3. Using the MP3 format, larger digital audio files can be shrunk to a fraction of their size, losing a little of the sound quality in the process. Compared to the reduction in file size and ease of download, the reduction in quality is negligible and usually not very noticeable.

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How can you compare mp3 players to be sure you're getting the best features and price? Here's a great little checklist for your player comparison. Use these criteria to compare players and you'll have no problem choosing the right one.

The Evolution Of MP3 Players
In today’s world MP3 players are the fastest and easiest way to listen to music, they are very light and are easy to carry around especially those who are on the go.

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A digital audio player (DAP) is a device that stores, organizes and plays audio
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