By: Matt Clark
Buying an MP3 player is a lot like finding a mate. One may look at the size, shape, style and features, as well as how high maintenance or "easy" that person eyeing them across the bar is.
Similarly, finding the MP3 player of your dreams requires careful consideration of a myriad of specs.
Some players offer more than meets the eye and thankfully the BG News is here to lead you through your purchase, from first glance to final union.
No oddballs allowed
This guide will focus entirely on portable MP3 players, not those for your car or home stereo. Another category of players that will be skipped is the "oddball" players.
Portable MP3 CD players - which fall into the oddball category - play CDs loaded with around 200 MP3s and regular CDs purchased at a music store. MP3 CDs can be burned on any computer.
These may be an excellent choice for some as they are easy to use and relatively inexpensive (many retail for under $50). But they are big, they skip easily, and they require their users to carry around CDs.
Many, such as grad student Zak Knauss, consider getting rid of their CD case the major reason for buying an MP3 player.
"The fact that everything is right there," he said. "I don't have to dig through my discs, I just have everything there."
Other oddball players include those that connect to cell phones, Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs. We will also skip players such as the Sony PSP and other multimedia devices where playing MP3s is not the main feature.
However, each oddball player may appeal to a certain crowd, say someone that carries their Palm Pilot everywhere they go. Consider each before focusing on standard players.
The four steps
The most important rule to follow when finding the perfect player is to decide on a player before going to the store. Or, at least have a narrow idea of what you want. Never choose from the few players available at some electronics outlets when there are hundreds more out there.
No worries, though. By following a simple four step process, buyers can eliminate the headache of sorting through the countless players available. First select a size, then consider the features, next look at how the player gets its music, and finally decide where to purchase your perfect player.
Concerning size
The size of an MP3 player can have two meanings. There is the physical size of the player: its width, length and height dimensions. There is also the size of its hard drive or internal memory, which determines how many songs, photos, videos or other files the player can hold.
There are four physical size categories to choose from in MP3 players. Ultracompact players such as the Apple iPod Shuffle, the Creative Labs Muvo line of players and others are often the best workout companions.
Before junior Alicia Joynson purchased her iPod Nano, she had an ultracompact RCA Lyra player that she could easily take on a run. What was her reason for upgrading?
"I am not limited to 20 songs like my first MP3 player and can make playlists," she said.
The major disadvantage to ultracompact MP3 players is that their storage capacity maxes out at about one gigabyte. So, the largest number of songs these players normally hold is about 250. Most hold between 32 and 128 songs, ranging in capacity from 128 to 512 megabytes.
Ultracompacts do have several advantages, however, especially their price. The iPod shuffle remains the least expensive iPod on the market. They also store their songs on flash memory.
Players that use flash memory store songs on chips rather than hard drives. The importance of this is that a hard drive has moving parts. Fewer moving parts will result in a more reliable, skip-free device. This is another reason ultracompacts are great for working out.
Those concerned with the small capacity of ultracompacts, but allured by their skip-free play, may find the next size category perfect for their needs and, hopefully, their pocketbooks.
The iPod Nano is a member of the next size category, the not-so-compact flash players. These players range in space from about 1 gigabyte all the way up to the Nano's 4 gigabytes, or between 250 and 1,000 songs.
The not-so-compact flash players tend to be the most expensive per-gigabyte players on the market. They are not the most expensive players, but are pricey for the storage capacity they have.
For instance, the iPod Nano (with 4 gigabytes) retails at $249, while its much bigger sibling the iPod Video (with 60 gigabytes) retails at $399. This is a difference of about $60 per gigabyte.
Besides the Nano, other not-so-compact flash players include the iRiver U10 and Samsung Yepp YP-T7Z.
Being that these players are a bit larger, they tend to have bigger, oftentimes color screens. This allows for easier navigation from song to song and for the display of photos.
There are obviously no clear distinctions between the first two size categories other than relative size. The two categories are merely meant to indicate that there are a wide range of flash memory player sizes and capacities.
The next category is clearly different: microdrive players. These bad boys are small, but pack large capacity - usually around 5 gigabyte - mini hard drives.
They are cheaper per-gigabyte than flash players, but have hard drives with moving parts and are bigger in size than nearly all flash players. Sorry fitness-gurus.
Interpersonal Communication major Maureen Hawkins went with Apple's now discontinued microdrive player the iPod Mini after a less-than-satisfied experience with an ultracompact player from a competing manufacturer.
"When I received [the ultracompact] and put music on it, it only held up to twelve songs," she said. "Now I have all my songs from my computer and I have so much more space."
Unfortunately for Hawkins, though, the microdrive player cannot be held when she is running. If she does not set the iPod Mini down on the treadmill, it will skip, even turn off.
Other microdrive players include Creative Lab's Zen Micro and Muvo 2 lines and Rio's Carbon line.
Players in the last category are big, both in physical size and capacity. These players all have hard drives with more than 8 gigabytes of space. Some have 60 gigabytes and more.
Imagine holding 15,000 songs or 1,000 hours of music in your pocket. What's more is some are now allowing for the playing of video on their small screens.
When most people think of an iPod, they think of Apple's hard drive-based players. The current iPod hard drive player is known as the iPod Video. It is smaller and cheaper than the previous generation iPod and comes in sizes of 30 and 60 gigabytes.
These players are not intended for most exercise activities. There size, capacity and other features make them ideal for walks, parties and vacations.
The massive capacity of these drives allows for a few tricks other than playing music. While player features will be covered more in depth later in this article, it is important to note what can be done with 60 gigabytes of space besides storing MP3s, photos and videos.
Nearly all MP3 players, from the 128 megabyte ultracompacts to the monster hard drive players, act as a regular computer drive when plugged in to their owner's system. Many of them do not require drivers, including all iPods.
This means that students wishing to transfer large PowerPoint presentations from their computer in their dorm room to a computer lab for printing have their work cut out for them. They plug their player into their system, drag the file to the drive, take it to the lab and print it out.
Others may want to use the extra space to back up important files onto their new drive or utilize it for a large video project. Just make sure you have a fast, USB 2.0 or Firewire cable connection. More on this later, too.
For Hawkin's sister and her husband, the extra space on their iPod Photo came in real handy.
"It has so much space on it that you can have a file for his music and a file for her music and only have to purchase one," she said.
Features abound
After choosing the size and capacity, one must look at the numerous features now available on players. And it is features where all the iPods get a serious run for their money.
While in recent generations the iPod has introduced features such as photo and video viewing, the new iPod Video still mainly focuses on the playing of MP3s.
It seems the new video feature is mainly intended for purchasing television shows, music videos and other content from the iTunes music store, as the ability to convert other videos into a format compatible with the iPod is only possible with Quicktime Pro, which retails for $29.99.
Video owners will also have to purchase a separate cable in order to display that video on television screens. Watching Desperate Housewives on a 2.5 inch screen may not excite many users.
The Archos Gmini 402, on the other hand, allows users to watch their videos on the go without any additional software.
It includes the cable needed for playing video on the big screen, and its sister model the 402 Camcorder has an embedded camcorder for recording up to 50 hours of video on its 20 gigabyte hard drive.
While video features have been all the rage recently, there are many other features one may consider for their new player.
Several players have come on the market with the ability to record audio, whether through an onboard microphone, an external one, or any audio device via a line-in connection.
Such a feature is helpful for students wishing to record interviews or lectures, but sadly many may never use this excellent feature.
Even though music education major Katie Mielke's Creative Labs Zen Micro has an onboard microphone, she has only used it a couple times "just for fun."
Audio recording can be added to certain iPods with a separate accessory.
Another feature available on several players is FM radio. Some even offer the ability to record the radio.
The most varied feature on players out there today is their screens. Consumers should decide how large a screen they want, if it should be a color screen, and if they require a backlight for playing in the dark.
Some screens are so small they cannot even display the title of a song, but other players, such as the iPod Shuffle, don't even have a screen.
And then there are several other features many would never expect from an MP3 player. Those going for a run with their player may enjoy having a stopwatch, calorie counter or pulse rate monitor, such as those available on certain RCA Lyra players.
Others may want to play games. Many players, including the iPod, have simple games such as solitaire. The Archos Gmini 402 has the Mophun game engine for downloading titles off the internet.
There are also personal information management features on several players today, such as the ability to upload and view a schedule or address book on the go.
Finally, there are features directly associated with the overall enjoyment of the player. Some players come with better earphones. Others have longer lasting or removable batteries for endless amounts of playing time while away from an electrical outlet.
Some players have equalizers that allow you to adjust the tone of the player's sound. Several have digital signal processing, for those wanting to modify the acoustics of a piece of music.
A few allow you to crossfade between songs like the pro disc jockeys. This is an excellent feature for those using their player for a non-stop dance party.
Make connections
The third step in courting the MP3 player of your dreams is deciding how you want your player to receive its music.
There are two things to consider when deciding how a player will interface with your computer. The first is its connection and the second is its software.
Any player with a capacity greater than 256 megabytes should have a USB 2.0 or Firewire connection. Most computers made within the last few years have USB 2.0, Firwewire or both.
USB 2.0 and Firewire are about 40 times faster than the older USB 1.1.
While there is not much choice in the connection one uses for their player, there are several software packages out there.
The most popular software among players is Microsoft Windows Media Player, which is free and already installed on most PCs. It is also available free for Macintosh computers.
Another advantage to Windows Media Player is that consumers may have already used it to organize their MP3 collection.
Mielke went with her Zen Micro after returning an iPod Nano. The reason? She did not want to install iTunes, the software required to use any iPod.
"My computer didn't have iTunes on it," she said. "It already had Windows Media Player and it already had all my music in it so it was just convenient for me."
There is one major advantage to iTunes, though: the iTunes Music Store, which can only be accessed through the program. Songs purchased from the store can only be played on the iPod.
If you plan on purchasing music from online music stores, be sure to take a look at our sidebar that gives you the basics about the most popular music stores in this issue. It also includes information on which players are compatible with which stores.
I'll get the bill
The final step is shopping for and purchasing your new player. Once you know what size, capacity, features and interfaces you want on your new player it is a lot easier to weed through the field of players out there.
But don't go to the store yet. First, pick up a dependable consumer magazine with player reviews. These publications give you an inside take on what each player is like, and are available at most libraries.
But no review or picture can demonstrate the size or feel of the player in your hand.
The design of the player's controls is crucial and can only be experienced in person.
Some players on the market are impossible to control blindly. Users of these players must pull them from their pocket each time they wish to skip a song.
Some say it is the iPod's Click Wheel controls that have made it so popular. Junior Justin Yates lists it as one of the best features of the player.
"The Click Wheel is just amazing," he said.
Experiencing the controls is important, but don't think that means buying your player from a brick-and-mortar retail outlet is the best way to go.
Buying online makes for difficult returns, but can save money. Websites such as CNET.com and Pricewatch.com allow surfers to search through hundreds of stores for the best price.
There is also the option of purchasing a used player from an online auction site. There is a certain amount of risk, but can also save money.
When buying an MP3 player used, look for one with a removable battery. Players without this feature may already have lost a percentage of their battery's life.
This is also a good reason to purchase an extended warranty for a new player, as batteries do not last forever. Those using their player everyday may wear their battery out just past the warranty date.
According to Apple's web site, iPod batteries are designed to retain up to 80 percent of their capacity after 400 charge cycles.
A charge cycle occurs every time the player has been used for an amount of time equal to its battery's capacity (15 hours on the Nano), irrespective of when it is charged.
When at the store of your choice, go over to the accessories section and make sure the player you are eyeing has the accessories you need available.
The iPod Nano and Video have a wired remote accessory that allows the user to control them while they are tucked away in a backpack or purse. The wired remote also adds FM radio.
The honeymoon
Choose the size, features, interface and store. It's that easy. And when someone finds that special player, they never worry about introducing it to their parents.
Sit back and let the MP3 player of your dreams serenade you.
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