It's all about your lifestyle and taste when picking an Mp3 Player. Someone who wants a simple, very compact player for use at the gym will want a very different player to someone who wants access to their complete multimedia library on the go.
Many of you will immediately think of getting an iPod, but the iPod isn't necessarily the only player for you. There are a number of other leading manufacturers who produce players that really give the iPod a run for its money.
This guide covers the main factors that you should consider when buying an mp3 player and what features will suit your needs.
Capacity
Mp3 players range in storage capacity from 512Mb for a few hundred songs to 160GB that stores hundreds of hours of music and video. Most of today's players use flash memory to store media, although players with higher capacities such as the iPod Classic use a hard disk drive instead to store media. The flash memory players tend to be physically smaller than the hard disk players and flash memory players do not have any moving parts and are therefore more durable.
It's difficult to say how many songs, videos or photos will fit onto a player. The file size of each song, video or photo will depend on the length of song or video, file type and compression format.
Our Capacity Guide can give you a rough idea on how much music and video can fit on the typical disc sizes of the latest mp3 players.
When choosing your MP3 player you should consider how much memory you will require. This will be dependent on how many songs and video files you plan to store on it. It is always a good idea to get a little bit of extra memory, but there is no need for an 80GB player if you will only ever use 4GB of it. Bear in mind that higher capacity players will cost more and tend to be physically larger.
Memory Card Slot
If you think you will need more memory in the near future, but are unable to afford a high capacity player right away, consider a player with memory expansion slot. Some players can handle SD, Micro SD or SDHC cards. These cards are inexpensive and come in large capacities.
Physical Size & Design
Choosing a size and design that suits you is purely a matter of personal taste. With any Mp3 player - whether a 1GB audio only player or 160GB multimedia device - you're getting a device that is compact enough to fit in your pocket.
Smaller players can be the size of pebble or a USB stick. They're ideal for use when exercising and make a great player for children. Larger players are still relatively compact; they're thin and can still fit in most pockets, but contain larger memory or a hard disc drive and features large screens for video.
Most players will come in a choice of colours to suit your tastes.
Battery Life
If you are looking to use your MP3 player for extended use between charges you need to bear in mind the battery life before requiring a recharge. The last thing you want is for your Mp3 player to stop working at the worst possible time. If you travel a lot and want to use your player for long periods of time then look for a player with a long battery life.
MP3 players tend to come with an internal battery charged by AC adaptor or USB cable while others use normal alkaline batteries such as AAA. Internal batteries can be removable for replacing or may not be replaceable meaning that the battery could only be replaced by the manufacturer or their service agents which could be expensive.
The battery life is dependent on whether you are playing audio or video. Video tends to drain batteries faster than when you play music. High volume and high brightness settings on the LCD screen will also drain the batteries quickly. Most player's specifications will state how long the battery life is for audio playback and video playback.
With a large number players it is not just the audio that matters; Video, Photos and other features can all be enjoyed on the go.
Screen
The latest multimedia Mp3 players have large LCD screens with a high resolution making them ideal for video playback. If you do want to watch a lot of video look for a play with a large screen.
The more compact players with smaller storage capacities tend to have basic displays that will display the song title and artist. The Samsung S2 for example doesn't even feature a screen as the player is so small.
A useful feature on some players is a rotating screen. Larger screens can either be tall or wide. If the screen is longer in height it may offer you the option to view the screen in landscape view (turning the device by 90°) so you can enjoy video in widescreen, view photographs in their correct orientation and play games.
File Formats & Uploading Content
We can fit so much media on to an Mp3 player because of the compression used in the media file formats. The compression works by removing unwanted data such as audio frequencies that most people can't hear or in the case of video, reducing the resolution so that it's smaller but still looks good on an mp3 player.
In terms of audio the most common compression formats today are MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, ATRAC. Video formats includes MPEG4 (mp4) WMV and MOV. What format you choose will depend on what is compatible with your player, your computer and software and what suits your personal taste.
Uploading content on to the device is a fairly simple task so don't worry if you're not very computer literate. Programmes such as iTunes make uploading your media very straightforward. You can "rip" the tracks from your CD collection at the click of a button and transfer all your music quickly. iTunes and other similar programmes can even find the album information for you so you don't need to key in each track name and artist yourself.
A large number of players also work with Windows Media Player and some even let you drag and drop files straight on to the player using Windows Explorer.
Photos
A large number of players let you upload photo albums - a great way to share your photo collection with friends and family.
Games
Multimedia Players can come with a number of computer games to entertain you and most allow you to upload additional games on to the device. Websites such as the iTunes store lets you download games made specifically for these devices.
Recording Audio
Many Mp3 players record audio via a line in / microphone input making your player a great alternative to a dictaphone or portable audio recording device.
Built-in FM/AM Radio
If you enjoy listening to radio, look for MP3 player with a radio tuner built in. Most of these players will have a FM tuner but some may also have AM tuner. Some players will even allow you to record the radio broadcast for later playback.