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.

In this article, I’ll go over the three major categories of MP3 players, with tips for choosing the best one.

1: MP3 CD Players
An MP3 CD player is a digital music player that plays CDs – either standard audio CDs or MP3 CDs. MP3 CDs use a different file format than standard CDs, so they can hold many times the number of songs a standard CD can. With most computers, you can easily burn MP3 CDs for use with your player.

2: Flash Based MP3 Players
A Flash Based Player uses a static form of media such as a memory card to store your digital music on. You can get Flash based players that hold any where from 64MB (about 15-20 songs) up to several Gigabytes of music.

Flash players are general the toughest of the three types, and can take knocks and bangs better. My flash based player (a Rio Sport model) has been dropped and kicked many times while running, but it still goes strong.

Most flash players use a USB interface to connect to your computer so you can easily load them up with music.

3: Hard drive based MP3 Players
As the name suggests, a hard drive MP3 player uses a hard drive to store your music on. They generally have the largest storage capacity, up to about 100 GB of music, which will hold all but the very largest of music collections. Just like flash players, most hard drive players use a USB interface to connect to your computer so you can easily load them up with music.

Different mp3 players have different configurations and functional capabilities. Some of the mp3 players come with basic functions and buttons while others have complex functionalities and jazzy buttons. So when you are out there in the market to find the right mp3 player then you need to look for the following functionalities:

i.    Memory: The first thing that you should consider is the memory. There is no point buying an mp3 player with 30GB memory if you are not going to use it for storing other files like videos or presentations. 30GB of memory space is a lot for storing just mp3 or audio files. Of course, it will be useless to pick up a mp3 player with 1GB of space if you love to listen to music or if you plan to transfer all your mp3 files into the player. Look for a flash memory player that has at least 64MB on-board memory.

ii.   Connection: This is an important aspect of all mp3 players. Connection refers to the compatibility to your computer. There are only a few mp3 players that offer wireless transfer of files but most of the mp3 players offer two options: USB and FireWire. Whether your mp3 player has the USB option or the FireWire option, you will need a cable, which will be included in the packaging box itself. The cable will connect the mp3 player to the USB port of your computer so that you can easily transfer files from the computer to the mp3 player or vice-versa. The USB compatibility is the most popular and common connection today. It works well with both the PC and the Mac and are compliant with USB 1.1 and 2.0. FireWire primarily supports connection to the Mac.

iii.  Display: The display is also an important aspect of any mp3 player. Most of the mp3 players available today have a display screen although the size of the screen will vary from player to player. If you are buying a small mp3 player then the display screen might be as small as 12×30mm or it can be as big as 2.5’”. The display screen will let you know what music is being played, the time, and other important information. The display screen will also help you to operate the main menu so that you can choose a particular function.

iv.   Type of files: All mp3 players can save or play particular audio files or convert a particular type of audio file into an mp3 file. So when you are shopping for an mp3 player, you need to find a player that can play Mp3 and support WMA as well as AAC audio files. Apart from that the mp3 player should also be able to support MPEG4-SP, MJPEG, WMV9, DivX 4/5, and XviD.
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These are some of the most important aspects of an mp3 player that will help you to make an informed choice. Apart from these aspects, any extra functions will also be useful like FM radio, Clock & alarm, voice recorder etc.

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Play Station Portable

Still, the natural comparison the customers made was the one between the play station portable, also known as the PSP and the new model of the mp3 player series. PSP is basically a hand-held game console which was produced by the company Sony Computer Entertainment, back in 2004. The public’s reactions to this new device which was rather different than almost everything on the market was very good, due to the fact that the small device allowed customers to play famous games, and, at the same time, watch clips.

Comparing the batteries of these 2 devices or, better said, the life of the batteries, it is a fact that the PSP device lasted much longer than the iPod. While playing a movie, the battery of the mp3 player with video dies after almost 2 hours and a half, while the PSP battery lasts up to more than 7 hours, which is a big plus.
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Comparing the audio quality, it must be said the fact that both the devices provide a good audio quality; still, the mp3 player with video turned out to provide a slightly clearer sound than the play station portable. This is due to the act that the audio in the mp3 player with video file is encoded into AAC audio. On the other hand, the PSP seemed to have more bass in some cases, but overall, the difference was not that relevant and significant. The video quality of the 2 devices is another subject worthy to discuss and debate upon. It is known the fact that the PSP has a much larger screen. Even so, in this case, the large size advantage does not equal a better picture: the mp3 player with video manages to show a very sharp picture and sharp and clear text (even long ones). On the other hand, when discussing the difference in the video conversation, the fact is that a video mp3 player  takes around 12 hours to encode a video, while the play station portable only needs a bit under 3 hours to do the same thing. The Hottest iPhone/iPod Home Audio, Computer Speakers, Accessories & More

Comparing the 2 devices, it is obvious that they both have advantages and some flaws. Even though the video quality seems better on the mp3 player with video device, the PSP presents a longer life of the battery and faster ways to encode videos. Still, the mp3 player is a smaller device, so it is natural that some features are not that optimized as in the case of the PSP. Even more, due to the fact that it is smaller, the mp3 player is much easier to transport and to use in various occasions. The studies even showed the fact that both items are sold mostly in vacation periods, meaning the fact that the customers use them as an entertainment item in their both summer and winter holidays.

The 2 devices, even though they are similar in many ways of their practical usage, present both pros and cons or advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the customer’s needs and desires, they can choose the one that best fits their necessity, available time or quality expectations.

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The fact that the screen is bigger is great, but the surface is easy to scratch, aspect that is more in the cons category. Although the image is excellent and the clarity screen may be easily compared with the TV set’s screen quality, there are still some problems with freezing video images. There is a great achievement the fact that the light, sun or other previous obstacles are annihilated, but another important problem is the unresponsiveness in some cases.
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The dimensions of the new mp3 player with video are great, but there is no way you may watch it with more than several persons. Anyway, it was designed for personal not collective needs and you may still share your photo album and music or video music preferences with one person. The flat screen is large enough to enjoy your favorite videos. The Hottest iPhone/iPod Home Audio, Computer Speakers, Accessories & More

Although the life battery is longer, the complaints concern the short battery life for video. And this complaint may be balanced by the fact that the video is played with no flaw. The pros of the new mp3 player with video are considered the cool look, the impressive number of features, the great organization of the music menu so that you may even rank your favorite songs. The cons of the new mp3 player with video are considered the absence of FM option, the fact that no cradle is included, the impossibility of connecting the mp3 player with video to the computer and the cost.

The amazing new features concern the sound quality – it is clearer and stronger with a bass that is stronger articulated, the sound is also louder than that of the previous generations. The other good features are the easy control, the video feature is classified with “great”, but the flaws regard the interruption of the sound between the tracks, being blanked out. There are still other suggestions regarding the battery life, taking into account the amount of music that the new mp3 player with video has.

The pros may be gathered together pointing out the thin and attractive enclosure with a great display, the best sound, 15-20 hours of music, new clock and the time in other parts of the world. The cons highlight the incompleteness of the video integration that suggests the experimental project aspect, absence of the new games, no changes in the interface, the smaller screen than expected especially for video features edition. Another disadvantage concerns the slow transfer of photos direct from the camera.

Some critics point out the fact that the design and the features of the new mp3 player with video may be seen from different perspectives. Therefore, the complaints and the satisfaction may be contradictory. These aspects may be seen from a movie lover perspective, an audiophile or photographer or even from a simple consumer with no great expectations. That is why you may find musician’s reviews or video addicted reviews that are in contradiction. You may decide in which category you may be situated for deciding if the new mp3 player with video is worth the money or not.

From the same point of view, you may say that as a music player the new mp3 player with video has superior quality of sound. As a screen for the photo album, the clarity of the screen may win the competition with any TV set’s screen. As a movie player, the mp3 player with video is below the expectations, but it may be considered a great step in the video technology.

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