MP3 Player Buyer's Guide

Beginner - Flash memory players

Cheap MP3 Players

1. SanDisk Sansa Clip (2GB)
   From ~ £20
2. Creative Zen Stone Plus (2GB)
   From ~ £30
3. Apple iPod Shuffle (2GB)
   From ~ £50

Players of this type include those with integrated memory, separate memory cards and USB drive MP3 players. These cheap mp3 players are the most affordable and the smallest in size. With few moving parts they are unaffected if used while exercising.

These players typically allow you to store between 64 to 512 tracks of CD quality audio. Capacity varies from 256mb up to around 2GB in new mp3 players. These devices are easy to use, making it simple to transfer music files to and from your computer and the player.

As such these are ideal players for every day listening, for use in the gym or as an inexpensive introduction to portable MP3 players. Styles vary, ranging from tiny, discrete devices that can be worn around the neck, to more futuristic or elegant designs for the fashion conscious.

Intermediate - Hard drive players

Mid-range MP3 players

1. Samsung YP S3
   From ~ £40
2. Apple iPod Nano
   From ~ £50
3. Creative Zen V Plus
   From ~ £70

If you want to carry around your whole music library, then this is the type of player you need. Hard drive players typically store between 1,000 to over 15,000 tracks depending on their storage capacity. Storage size varies from around 2GB to over 160GB. The devices themselves are usually pocket sized and are equipped with the same basic functions as their integrated memory counter parts. The larger capacity of these hard disk MP3 players is their biggest selling point.

Hard drive players often have small screens displaying track and artist details, as well as user friendly menu systems to aid navigation between songs. More expensive colour screen models can also display stored photographs. Certain players even make it possible to download digital camera memory cards onto their hard disk for photo viewing, without having to use a computer as an intermediary.

These players are truly a portable mp3 jukebox being capable of storing many songs and albums in a single, compact player. Many users link mp3 players up to compatible car radios or purchase an add-on travel speaker which transforms them into portable hi-fi systems.

Advanced

Top-range MP3 players

1. Creative Zen X-FI
   From ~ £100
2. Apple iPod Touch
   From ~ £100
3. Apple iPod Classic
   From ~ £150

Multimedia players use large hard drives and are physically bigger and heavier than other mp3 players. This extra size and capacity is to accommodate a large colour screen for the displaying of photographs and their video playback capabilities. This feature makes viewing your favourite movies, the latest music videos or even your holiday film possible. Music, videos, photos are all accessible from a single portable device.

More advanced models have integrated video inputs and support real time encoding, making them a potential VHS recorder replacement. Others have a similar feature set to a palmtop computer or PDA thanks to their operating system and application support. These portable media players are really more than just an mp3 player.

Memory size: This is the amount of data that the MP3 player can hold. The larger the capacity, the greater the number of songs you will be able to store on your player. The memory size is usually stated in Megabytes (MB) for multimedia card mp3 players and secure digital mp3 players and in Gigabytes (1 GB = 1024 MB) for hard drive players. On average, a song is around 4 megabytes (MB) in size, i.e. approximately 60 MB for a whole album. The exact size of a track depends on the quality with which it was encoded this is expressed as a bit rate value (kbps). The higher the mp3 bit rate the better the quality, but this extra quality results in a larger file size. Bit rates can vary but around 128 to 192kbps is a good compromise between quality and size.

Weight and size: There are huge differences between mp3 players in terms of size and weight. Players range in weight from around 40 grams for small integrated memory players to over 300 grams for a large multimedia player. As a general rule the greater the capacity of the player the larger the size and the heavier the weight. However improvements in storage technology are constantly reducing the size and weight of successive mp3 player generations.

Compatible audio formats: Although the MP3 music format is the most widespread, the majority of online music stores use other formats such as WMA or AAC. The latter are more recent formats than MP3 and can offer better audio quality at the same size. These formats also provide a royalties protection system which makes them very successful within musical spheres. If you are thinking of using one of these services or if your music library contains formats other than the MP3 one, you need to check the compatibility of the player. Other audio formats include Ogg Vorbis and the proprietary Sony format ATRAC.

PC Interface: This is the connection interface between your music player and your computer. Most mp3 players use the common USB connection. USB 2.0 or FireWire connections however are considerably faster than standard USB making players combatable with these interfaces are more desirable. This is especially relevant for hard drive and multimedia players where the amounts of data transferred are quite considerable.

Battery life: The battery for most flash memory mp3 players is generally integrated and non-interchangeable, making it important to check their battery life. Battery life can vary between several hours for a power hungry multimedia player, to over 40 hours for some memory integrated MP3 players. Some smaller players can be draw power from their connection to your computer (USB) and do not require a separate charger or batteries. Charging times also vary depending on the player and the type of battery used.

Remote control: A remote control offers usability advantages, especially for hard drive and multimedia players which are usually impractical to take in and out of your pocket. The remote controls for MP3 players can either be compact and limited to just the essential functions, or feature rich and equipped with a small LCD screen displaying track information.

Other functions: The most common auxiliary functions on MP3 players are an FM radio tuner and a hand-held Dictaphone recording function allowing you to record short memos. On some players the radio function can even be used to record your favourite station in MP3 format.