Portable MP3 Players buying guide
It’s never too early to think about the holidays, or yourself. And as the price of electronics continues to drop, the scope of your gift giving widens. To many, portable MP3players seem extraneous.
Before you spend the cash on a portable mp3 player, here are a few terms you’ll need to be familiar with.
Flash player - Flash music players have no moving parts and are the smallest type of portable player. They’re also the least expensive but offer less storage capacity.
Hard drive player - Hard drive mp3 players will hold your entire music collection. These devices are a little larger than their flash player cousins and have moving parts, making them more prone to skipping or internal damage. Hard drive players are more expensive than flash players.
Proprietary software - Many portable players force you to use special software to put music on your device. Others allow you to drag and drop any type of file. Always opt for the latter, non-proprietary style for the greatest flexibility and ease of use.
Photos and video - Many modern mp3 players have the option to store and play videos or image files. These will cost more and have a lower battery life than plain music players.
Cell phone music - Lots of new cell phones come with mp3 playing abilities, but don’t be fooled by the flashy advertisements. Cell phones offer poor quality sound and hold very few songs. They’re good for keeping a few tunes, but don’t rely on your phone as your sole mp3 player.
The flash memory is the smallest and lightest MP3 player. This would store fewer songs than a hard drive but is very portable. Due to the fact that it has no moving parts, it’s ideal to use while exercising. Some have up to 8 GB which allows up to 2,000 songs.
The hard drive and mini hard drive MP3 players are usually larger than flash memory models. They do have more storage if memory is a concern.
For those looking for a player that can contain their entire music collection (up to 20,000 songs), photographs, data, and video and allow podcast recording, the hard drive is best. (The Apple iPod has models with 80GB).
The best portable mp3 players also allow you to be able to upgrade the operating system of the unit whenever needed. This can be very important as the mp3 player equipment is changing constantly because it’s still a relatively new technology. So you want to be able to keep up as advancements are made, and newer file formats or compressions are introduced. Otherwise you could wind up with an obsolete player very quickly.
With all these tips in mind, go out and buy your cool gadgets and enjoy your music life!
