If you're in the market for a portable music player, I'm afraid to tell you there's no such thing. Don't worry, there are loads of compact digital devices on the market that play music. There just isn't a device that only plays music.
Today's portable media players (at Adorama, their formal name is MP3 Multimedia Players) are veritable Swiss army knives of media consumption. In addition to digital music, you can expect photo and video playback and voice recording. Some players even include a camera for low-resolution photo and video recording. Here's what you should keep in mind before taking the plunge.
Keep in mind that with so many changes coming so fast to MP3 players, you may want to upgrade in a year or two, so budget for a gadget that will have a 1-2-year lifetime.
The elephant in the room
Let’s be honest: the Apple iPod, with over 70% of the MP3 player market, is the elephant in the room, and for many of you the question isn’t which MP3 player to get, but which iPod to get. And that’s understandable, because iPods are so easy to use. But there are other MP3 players out there that offer features that iPods lack, or cost less, and may be worthy of your consideration. While iPod may be the industry leader, innovations can be found everywhere.
A few things to keep in mind
File Friendly
In the world of digital content, the file format is king. If your device can only play a limited number and type of digital file, it's not all that valuable. Compatibility with a wide range of music, video, and photo files is a must. Yes, there's an alphabet soup - MP3, WMA, AAC, JPEG, AVI, MOV, etc. - but the more file support, the better.
Bundled Software
Mac users can use iTunes to convert their music files to store on a digital player, while Windows owners can take advantage of Windows Media Player for that task. But many digital music players ship with their own software for organizing tracks, ripping CDs, converting videos to play on smaller screens, and helping you load content onto your player. This is particularly important if you want to watch videos on your device - bundled software designed for your player knows how to convert images into formats your player can play.
Media Format
Most music players have increasingly embraced flash memory as their storage format of choice. Flash is lightweight and has no moving parts, which means that it preserves battery life and is less prone to skips or interruptions if the unit gets jostled. That said, flash can't offer as much storage for the price as a hard drive, so if you have a massive music library that you absolutely must carry with you wherever you go, choose a hard-drive player instead. Hard drives might also be preferable if you envision toting around a lot of video files, which quickly devour memory.
Display's The Thing
Touch-screen displays are populating an ever-larger number of units now at lower price points. While few offer all of the multi-touch capabilities of the iPod (think swiping and using two fingers to magnify on-screen text), they do give you an alternative to physical buttons.
With prices ranging from under $50 to over $800, there’s a wide variety of choices if you want to bring music everywhere you go. Check out our guide to portable MP3 players for top current models.
