Choosing the right MP3 Player
November 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under MP3 Player Features
We all have to agree that we are now in the digital age. Who could have thought a decade back that cassette record player will be replaced by compact and ultra-light digital audio players most popularly known as MP3 players. These days you can find MP3 players that are as small as the USB device with a dual function. There are some popular brands like the Apple I-Pod, the Microsoft Zune, Creative, Sandisk, Isonic etc. Most of the mp3 players today have a high memory capability and multiple functions. The memory can range from 1GB to 60 GB.
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.
