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MP3 Player Buyers' Guide 11/26/2007
MP3 players have evolved greatly over the years. Learn how to find the one that fits your lifestyle.
If you want to find a list of stores on the South Shore who stock MP3 players, just CLICK HERE to find names, addresses and locations.
MP3 Player Buyers' Guide
Technology continually revamps the way the public listens to music. Each era ushers in a new device that purports to revolutionize audio playback in terms of quality and convenience.
Recent years have witnessed the virtual demise of the the LP, 8-track and cassette tape. And CDs may soon be relegated to the trash bin. Today, the MP3 player and the momentum of its phenomenon among today's youth is growing light years faster than its audio predecessors.
MP3 technology has been in the works for many years. German inventors and scientists Dieter Seitzer and Karlheinz Brandenburg were integral in developing the technology that today delivers digital music to the ears of music lovers around the world. Experiments into encoding audio into smaller files started as early as 1977.
MP3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer III and it is a standard for audio compression that makes music files smaller with little or no loss of sound quality. MP3 is part of MPEG, an acronym for Motion Pictures Expert Group, a family of standards for displaying video and audio using lossy compression. Depending upon the quality and the file format settings, a 5GB MP3 player can hold roughly 1,000 five-minute songs.
For beginners looking to purchase a player, the process can be a bit daunting. Apart from the technical jargon that goes hand-in-hand with purchasing any electronic product these days, from PCs to washing machines, MP3 players seem to evolve every week. By understanding the different types of MP3 players out there and exploring your usage intent in regards to a player, you can make an informed purchasing decision when heading to your favorite retailer.
MP3 Player Varieties
There are four basic types of MP3 players. Here is a listing of their comparative features so you can determine what type will meet your budget and needs.
Type: Mini hard drive-based player
Features: This is the newest type of MP3 player available. They use 1-inch micro hard disks and range in size from 1GB to 20GB storage. They're very portable and aesthetically pleasing.
Battery life: They can have some of the best battery life available.
Type: Regular hard drive-based player
Features: These players are larger than their mini counterparts, and often boast large color screens that make navigation easier. Some may also display photos or video. These players can also serve as portable/external hard disks for files beyond audio. They can hold from 10GB up to 100GB.
Battery life: These players have less battery life than other types of MP3 players. Many operate on internal rechargeable batteries that can degrade over time.
Type: Solid state player
Features: This was the original MP3 player and it does not have any moving parts inside. This means this player uses flash memory or onboard RAM to store files. The amount of files that can be stored depends upon the media device you purchase to hold music. Naturally, price increases in correlation with memory size. The devices may be able to hold up to 8GB.
Battery life: These players generally do well on battery life.
Type: CD-based player
Features: Most CD players are also compatible with the MP3 file format. These players are often the most cost-effective option for MP3 playback, but are also the most bulky and can be prone to skipping. CD-based MP3 players were actually one of the first kinds of MP3 players available, but their features have been expanded as interest has increased. Generally, storage capabilities will be much smaller than the other players because files must be saved either to CDs, DVDs or Mini CDs, which may range in size from 700MB to 800MB.
Battery life: One set of batteries will give you on average 40 to 50 hours of playback, a greater duration than any other type of player.
Supported Formats
Once you have your player you'll need to fill it with music. MP3 is the most popular file format for digital music, but others such as AAC, MPEG-2 and WMA are also compatible on certain units.
You also want to be sure the player you choose can handle ID3 version 2 tags (ID3v2), which are used to store information about the song, such as artist and title. This feature may cause errors on players that don't support it, so it's a good thing to look for when shopping around.
While you're exploring players (making sure to test them out because not all play back as well as others), also keep in mind the headphones you use. There's no point in seeking out high-quality audio if you're going to compromise playback with shoddy headphones. You may want to upgrade from the ones that come standard with the player.
Price
Bargain hunters will want to look for the solid state or CD-based players, which can range from $40 to $120. Other players, whether you're an audio fanatic or just want something a little more top-notch can range from around $150 up to $1000.
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Keywords: MP3, MP3 players, South Shore, Lunenburg County, Bridgewater, Chester, Mahone Bay, Liverpool, Queens County, Nova Scotia, Canada
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