MP3 Player Guide

With a seemingly endless array of choices there is a digital audio device out there for you.

Everyone wants one. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, colors and cases. Most let you listen to music, some allow you to watch video and a few are even wireless. They’re one of the most popular consumer electronics products out there and a computer company named Apple is the current industry leader. We are of course referring to the mighty digital audio or MP3 player.

Since their introduction in the late ‘90s, digital audio players have become one of the run away successes of portable electronics. 2003 sales figures, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, were a staggering $556 million, which was a 171 percent increase over the previous year. More importantly, the CEA projects this revenue will grow by another 27 percent this year.

While you’ll hear the term “MP3 player” more often, these devices play more than just the MP3 format, so we’ll continue to refer to them as “digital audio players.” In its most basic form a digital audio player is a portable device which allows you to store and play potentially thousands of your favorite tunes and transfer them to and from your computer. These devices come primarily in two flavors: hard drive-based models, which allow you to carry large amounts of music but tend to be bulkier, and flash-memory units, which are smaller and sleeker but hold fewer songs.

There is also a third style, MP3 CD players, which are capable of reading CDs burned with digital audio files on them. As much as this design keeps hanging on, it’s hard to argue if these are true MP3 players since we have defined them as having internal memory storage, so we won’t be evaluating these types of products during this article.

In addition to CD players and internal memory storage devices, other form factors exist which are considered hybrids. With the growing popularity of music on the go, coupled with the new trend of convergence, other consumer electronics products that also happen to incorporate digital audio playback are starting to sprout up.

Historically, the most common among these other devices have been personal digital assistants such as Pocket PCs and Palm Pilots. These devices have been playing media files for years. Additionally, cell phones are now sporting MP3 playback and ring tones, portable hard drives loaded with music can be carried from your computer to your car and digital audio servers can wirelessly stream your favorite tunes to anywhere in the home.

Items to Consider

Regardless of the size or shape of the device however, it all comes back to the fact that taking our music to go is a trend that is here to stay. The question for you as the shopper is, how do I get the most value for my money in a market loaded with products and features? It’s our goal to help you answer that.

Our buying guide is broken up into three sections: features to consider, manufacturers and new trends for 2004. With prices ranging from $70 to almost $1000, there are a lot of choices out there.

There are many different form factors and manufacturers to choose from. (Images not to scale)

Interface Type

Two types of options exist for the majority of digital audio players to connect them to your computer. The most common, known as Universal Serial Bus (USB), currently comes in two flavors: the slower, older 1.1 standard or the quicker 2.0. Version 1.1 supports transfer speeds of up to 12Mb/s (megabits per second) and 2.0 supports a theoretical maximum transfer of 480Mb/s. What this means is that 10GB of data could theoretically be transferred in about 113 minutes on USB1.1 or in 2.8 minutes with USB2.0. Actual transfer speeds will be much slower due to other hardware and environmental factors, but the point is – USB2.0 is about 40 times faster than USB1.1.

Keep this in mind when looking for digital audio players, especially the larger capacity devices. Multiple gigabytes of music will take a considerable amount of time to transfer on a USB1.1 connection. Older players may not support 2.0 and it’s also important to know what speed USB ports are on your computer.

The other connectivity option, FireWire (IEEE 1394) operates at a maximum speed of 400Mb/s, but not as commonly supported on PCs as it is on Macs. This is changing however, especially on laptops. For now though, make sure that if you use FireWire on your PC there is already a built in port or, failing that, take a run down to your local computer hardware store to buy a FireWire add-on card.

Types of Storage

Perhaps one of the biggest questions to ask yourself when buying a digital audio player is what type of storage option you wish to have. The two options currently available are hard-drive units and flash storage players. Each has distinct advantages and disadvantages you’ll want to consider.

Hard drive units, by far the larger of the two in terms of storage capability, can currently hold a maximum of 60 GB of music, which can end up being anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 songs depending upon the compression you saved the music to when you ripped it from a CD. Hard drive units, to offset this greater storage capability, tend to be slightly larger then their flash storage brethren and also suck up battery life faster as well.

Since hard drives have moving parts, the hard drive-based players are not always suitable if you plan to use them while jogging or moving around a lot. Most feature a cache which stores music in solid-state memory, but a continuous bouncing motion can damage a hard drive for good. However, many people use hard drive-based players, such as the Apple iPod, while jogging without experiencing any problems.

There are several sizes of hard drives currently being used in digital audio players. Some players are based on 2.5-inch drives, typically used for notebook computers. But hard drives are getting smaller and smaller and digital audio devices are prime candidates for the smaller form factor drives. Several units now use 1.8-inch drives built by GS MagicStor and Hitachi and others utilize a 1-inch drive built by Toshiba and Cornice. Toshiba has recently announced a .85-inch drive that will soon store up to 4GB of data.

The smaller hard drives can withstand more shock than the 2.5-inch drives and as devices get smaller and smaller and capacities increase, players based on these tiny drives will become more the norm.

Flash storage players, while not quite capable of carrying your entire CD collection like the hard drive models can, still can make quite a dent. Maximum built-in storage for flash-based players generally runs up to 512 MB. To add to this however, many flash-based players are easily upgradeable, allowing you to increase storage capacity when larger flash cards are available and more affordable.
 
Flash players are fairly compact and are more portable as they weigh less. A lighter weight allows you to strap the player on your arm while at the gym and not feel like you are carrying a brick.

Several manufacturers offer tiny hard drive based storage solutions. (Images not to scale)

 
Radio Tuner

Many players today allow you to tune in local radio stations while you are out and about. This is a nice alternative for when you grow tired of your music files, want to tune into a TV show playing on one of the gym’s televisions or need a quick fix of NPR. A nice bonus on some models: you can record FM broadcasts and play them back later.

File Formats

Multiple music formats exist for digital audio players and not all are supported widely in the market. Depending upon how you have archived your music on your computer, it’s important to note what file formats are supported. Most likely, if you used a main stream program like Real Player or Windows Media Player to copy your music, you may have your files saved in the popular MP3 format. MP3 files by default tend to be the most widely supported by music players, with virtually all of the major hardware manufacturers making their players compatible with it.

It is important to note that if you are using Windows Media Player, you may be using the WMA format instead of MP3. WMA, created by the folks at Microsoft, has a very similar audio quality and takes up slightly less space. While not as commonly supported as MP3, WMA has none-the-less found its way into the data chips of a lot of MP3 player makers.

Apple’s industry-leading iPod players play both MP3 and AAC formats. AAC features CD-quality audio in smaller file sizes than MP3.

Other players also support uncompressed formats such as WAV and AIFF. While these formats are true CD quality, the file sizes are quite large and restrictive.

File Storage

Besides being able to store music files, several companies have designed their models to allow you to store and transfer other file types such as office documents, pictures and even programs. The ability to store non-music files is a very attractive option for many buyers, and many manufacturers are incorporating this feature into their players.
 
Display and Navigation

Depending upon how many audio files you transfer to your player, trying to find the one you want can quickly become a headache. Two factors can come into play here when deciding on how to handle this.

The display screen itself is an important thing to consider. Is it large enough for your viewing needs, especially if you have poor eyesight? How well does it display outdoors and under the neon lights of the gym? If it has a backlight, is it bright enough to help you see?

How you actually navigate through the music on your player’s screen is also a big deal. Most players can read the associated text information, called the ID3 tag, you save when you rip CDs and present it for you on demand. But if the data which is most useful (such as the song name, artist and length) is not immediately accessible, you may become frustrated having to scroll.

Platforms Supported

If you own a Mac or Linux-based machine, you may be out of luck as a lot of players only operate in a Windows environment. Devices that can act as external file storage most often support all platforms, but be sure to check the specifications to make sure if you are planning on using it with a Mac or Linux computer.
 
Software

When you hook up your player to your computer, it’s not just simply a matter of willing the music on to it. A software music manager is required to transfer songs for most players, though some hard drive style units allow simple drag and drop. Most manufacturers include a decent manager which, among other things, offers the ability to rip CDS. Some also have drivers that integrate the player’s software into an existing media program such as Real Player or Windows Media Player.

Manufacturers

The digital audio player industry is ripe with companies offering products which look sleek, sound fine and do all sorts of combinations of things to wow you.

Sitting at the top of the heap right at the moment is Apple and their iPod line. The iPod, which has been the undisputed king of the portable digital audio player market for sometime now, is a hard-drive style player which comes in three different storage ranges and varies in price from $499 to $299. Apple claims the largest 40GB model can alone hold 10,000 songs, or roughly a CD collection the size of a small closest.

For those who are fashion conscious, Apple also recently unveiled their iPod mini series, priced at $249 for a standard 4GB drive capable of holding approximately 1,000 songs. While the price point may be a turn off for some, what makes the mini interesting is its credit card like size and also the fact that it comes in five different colors, including silver, gold, blue, pink and green.

Another major player is iRiver International. iRiver brings both hard drive and flash-based players to the market at a variety of different price points. On the hard drive side, models like the iHP-140, which comes in at around $499 with the capacity to play 1200 hours of music on an estimated 16 hours of battery life, and the $219, one-handed navigation friendly GP-100, sport a solid feel.

iRiver is no slouch when it comes to the flash players either, running the gamut from the 1GB, MP3-encoding iFP-599T ($449) to the basic iFP-140, which is priced at $79, holds 64MB of music and comes with a voice recorder feature.

The Rio brand, which has changed hands several times over the years, recently revitalized itself and is seen by many as the chief competitor to Apple for the top spot. One of their most recent models, the 20GB Karma, has gotten rave reviews from technophiles and average Joes alike. With a stylish case and the ability to customize the LCD screen, the Karma is priced at $299 and includes a docking station with RCA line-out.

Archos brings their own brand of creativity to the ring with their innovative AV300 portable video/audio player line. Priced between $899 and $549, these players not only are capable of the usual thousands of songs worth of storage on their hard drives, but also have the ability to play back video on their built-in color LCDs. With the largest 80GB model, for example, you could store up to 320 hours of viewable content. For those with a slightly smaller budget, Archos also offers the AV100 line starting at $339. Both series also offer video recording and photo viewing options.

There are several big players and several form factors in the digital audio market. (Images not to scale)

Besides dedicated manufacturers, computer hardware makers have been getting in on the act as well. Dell, with their Digital Jukebox line, is offering two hard drive players with 15GB and 20GB storage options that are priced at $224 and $269 respectively. Both offer MP3, WMV and WMA compatibility. Gateway meanwhile is offering up their DMP Jukebox line of both hard drive and flash players. The high end Gateway model, the DMP-X20, is priced at $299 and can hold up to 8,000 songs.

Not to be out done, Hewlett Packard recently announced a deal with Apple where they will be putting the HP logo on iPods. These re-branded players will be available this summer, offering 4GB of storage.

Another major manufacturer worth noting is Creative. Besides offering up their ultra-popular hard-drive and flash-memory Nomad lines, the new Rhomba is being described as the player for people on the go. Priced at $199 for the 256MB flash memory model, the Rhomba offers voice recording, a FM tuner and 10 hours of playtime on a rechargeable battery.

Like Archos, Creative also has a portable video/audio player called the Zen Portable Media Center. While not available on store shelves yet, this highly anticipated product will come in a variety of hard drive sizes and run a customized version of the Windows XP Media Center. Multiple audio, video and picture files will be supported and the device will reportedly effortlessly sync with your home computer for data transfers.
 
Not to be out done by the big players, several smaller manufacturers have done a worthwhile job at putting out products which deserve notice. iRock, owned by a Motorola spin-off, offers a line of players with a high price point of $149. All of the iRock models are fairly basic, flash-based and have small displays.

Frontier Labs, another small hardware company, calls the NEX digital audio players the most advanced in the world. While probably not that sophisticated, the NEX line none the less sports a clean look at around $119. What makes this product interesting is that it comes with no storage capability of its own, instead offering an expansion slot which supports Compact Flash and Microdrive cards for “infinite digital audio listening gratification.”

2004 Trends

With the dawn of each new year, trends in a given product market change to reflect the assumed desires of those who buy the product. Manufacturers, in trying to anticipate what consumers wanted for 2004, are introducing or sprucing up features on their MP3 players. Some of the more notable changes include:

Players the size of pendants which you can wear around your neck.
Players which can be recharged through a USB port.
Players with built-in speakers.
Players which are actually headphones with built-in flash storage.
Players which are water resistant and can be used in the shower.
Players which sport video screens so you can watch movies.
Players which can serve as temporary storage for digital camera photos when a compatible memory card is used.
Players with built-in wireless connections for sharing files and syncing with your computer.
Players with smaller form factors which sport micro-hard drives, ala Apple’s iPod mini.

OK, So What do I buy?

So, what should you buy? It all depends. Portability is obviously the most important thing, but all the other factors make this a very tough decision. Stylish choices abound in both hard drive and flash memory units, so if you want to look good you can.

Perhaps the most important thing to consider is this: what exactly are you going to do with this thing?

Do you want a device you can bring to the office each day, hook up speakers to and listen to your 50 CDs worth of techno? If so, one of the larger hard drive units maybe the way to go. Are you planning on running the New York Marathon and need to hear Jock Jams as part of your training regiment? You will probably get the most out of a flash memory player if this is the case. Or, do you want the best of both worlds – large storage capacity and small form factor? If so the mini hard drive or microdrive based players may be the way to go.

From the on the go set to those who want to use extremely high capacity models as their primary stereos, a multitude of choices abound. A buyer’s paradise awaits those who take the time to research and truly determine what they need the most. Shopping around, both virtually and in the stores, is a must. With careful planning, you’ll soon be on your way to portable digital audio nirvana.