Choosing an MP3 Player - 5 Things You Need To Know When Choosing an MP3 Player

So you've decided that you want a portable MP3 player to take your music collection with you. You hop online and search for MP3 players and discover that choosing an MP3 player is going to be more difficult than you thought. There are a myriad of options out there. First, the iPod which is the most popular option, second, the other brands of mp3 players that compete with the iPod (some well, some not), and then there's phones and PDA's that play mp3s. If you feel like you've gotten in over your head choosing an mp3 player, relax. I will give you 5 great tips to make choosing an mp3 player easy.

Choosing an MP3 Player Tip 1: Hard Drive vs. Flash Memory

The first thing to consider when choosing an MP3 player is the type of memory you need. Hard drive players store files on small hard disks just like your computer. The advantage to getting a hard drive player is the capacity is very large. MP3 players with 20, 30, 80, or 160 gigabytes (GB) can be had that store up to 25,000 songs! The disadvantage when choosing a hard drive MP3 player is that the hard drive has moving parts, whereas flash memory does not. These hard drives will war out faster than flash players (although hard drives will still last you several years), and they will skip if you bounce the player when using the player during jogging or other physical activities.

Flash memory players, as mentioned, do not have moving parts so are safe for workouts. They have smaller capacities than hard drive MP3 players, but they can be had cheaply with 1 GB of memory which can easily hold about 250 songs. The flash memory is also more compact than a hard drive, so flash players can be made much more compact and thinner than a hard drive player. When your choosing an MP3 player, consider size, amount of memory, and durability before you buy.

Choosing an MP3 Player Tip 2: Music Options

When you are choosing an MP3 player, you need to determine how you are going to get music on to your player. There are 4 major ways to get music onto your MP3 player:

1. Music software that comes with your player, including iTunes or the Zune Marketplace. You can buy songs online and add them to your player all in one convenient software package.

2. Independent music stores such as Amazon.com. You can buy songs at these stores and download them to your computer, where they can be added to your MP3 player.

3. Subscription music such as Rhapsody or Napster. For a low monthly fee, you can have unlimited music downloads. Some players do not support this, so make sure yours does.

4. Rip music off of CDs you already own.

When choosing an MP3 player, make sure your preferred method of getting music is supported.

Choosing an MP3 Player Tip 3: Photo and Video Options

If you want to watch movies or view photos on your player, consider choosing an MP3 player with a large color screen. Even a small increase in screen size on a compact device can make it alot easier to view photos or videos on your player. Also, if you like movies, choose a hard drive MP3 player because movie files are very large.

Choosing an MP3 Player Tip 4: User Interface and Other Features

It is very important to take a look at the user interface when you are choosing an MP3 player. Try to pick up the player and navigate the menus to get a feel for how easy it is to find your songs or media. If you are buying online, try to read some thorough reviews to get a feel for how easy the player is to operate. This is a major source of customer dissatisfaction, so don't overlook it.

MP3 players also come with many extra features, such as Wi-Fi syncing or FM radio. When you are choosing an MP3 player, shop around to get a feel of what types of features are offered.

Choosing an MP3 Player Tip 5: Integrated Devices

Some phones, PDA's, satellite radios, and even GPS units can play MP3 files. Playing music is not their primary purpose so you will have to make some compromises if you choose to go this route. The advantage is you only have to carry one device.

Choosing an MP3 player doesn't have to be complicated. Just remember these five tips an be sure to shop around for a player that meets your needs in your price range.

The Zune 80 is a great hard drive MP3 player. If you are in the market for this type of player, check out my Zune 80GB review

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Choosing The mp3 Player That Suits You

If you've been looking around for an mp3 player, chances are you're very confused with all the different specifications and the vast array of models out there. You've read that you can get your entire music collection on to one mp3 player and that's true - but not every mp3 player. You have also been told that you can throw them around, go jogging with them, climb a mountain with one and all this is true - but again, not every mp3 player will withstand this treatment.

Basically, if you want to get physical with your mp3 player then you need one with no moving parts. In this case, the iPod is not what you want. You would be looking for a machine which saves it's music to memory. Some of the most popular mp3 players which fall into this category are in the Creative MuVo range.

There are basically three types of mp3 player. Hard drive based, memory based and mp3 CD player based. The hard drive mp3 players allow you to store thousands of tunes whilst the memory based version sacrifices music volume for freedom of movement. You can even get waterproof mp3 players! The mp3 CD players read the mp3 music from a CD which you have pre-burned.

So now you have enough information to know what type of mp3 player you should be looking for. Now what about capacity? How much music can you get on the various players out there? Let's take a look ....

If you want your music to sound good you want to be using at least CD quality mp3s. One minute of CD quality mp3 takes up around 1Mb. The memory based mp3 players have a top limit of around 500Mb meaning you can get roughly 120 average length tunes on there. But the top end hard drive versions go up to as much as 60Gb which is a whole lot of music - an anorak's dream :)

Another consideration is battery life. The hard drive mp3 players plough through the batteries at a rate of knots since the disk has to physically turn. The memory based option uses a lot less battery power. Many of the memory based mp3 players use the AAA size battery which is very convenient since you don't need a re-charger and you don't need to search for hard to find battery types. You'll find that most hard drive versions use lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and if you use your mp3 player a lot, your re-charger will be in regular use. Many people simply leave the power lead plugged in when they are at home.

An important factor in your decision should be the size of the unit. If you want to use your player at the gym or while you're out jogging then you'll want the smallest player possible. There are some really tiny models on the market these days. You will usually have to sacrifice some storage with a very small mp3 players but you can usually get enough music on there to have a good long workout.

If you want to use your mp3 player more at home then size will not be such a great consideration. The iPod is still a very compact unit and most people will be held to fit their entire collection on there. Of course the iPod is not your only option and there are many excellent manufacturers out there. Just be careful of some of the cheap imports you see on ebay, often there is no support for these players.

As a replacement for the home hi fi system, the mp3 player is becoming more and more popular. High fidelity purists obviously will never be swayed but to most of us the quality of the mp3 is perfectly adequate for our everyday listening purposes.

In fact many modern players coming on to the market have been designed with both portability and versatility in mind. What better way to entertain your dinner party guests than to have your mp3 player randomly selecting music from over ten thousand of your favourite tracks? No more fumbling around in your CD rack trying to find the disk that lost its cover ;)

Now you know what to look for, go get yourself a player and join the digital music revolution.

Fabio writes for many niches and is an experienced researcher. He has written articles covering a wide range of human experience and enjoys plying his trade especially on the Internet. He is currently sponsoring iClick Info mp3 Blogs and News [http://mp3.linkz-and.info] and can be reached on fabio@mp3.linkz-and.info

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