Buyer's guide - MP3 players

Compact and user-friendly for everyday use

Joggers, trade in your old personal stereo for an MP3 player. With no moving parts, MP3 players are totally shockproof, and perfect for all sports. They also come in handy during your daily commute -- what better way to start the day than by listening to all your favourite tracks? To withstand everyday wear and tear, your MP3 player should be solid, compact, and easy to use. With enough space to store tens of thousands of songs, hard drive MP3 players can hold your entire music library. Although they're convenient for long journeys, hard drive MP3 players are bigger than their Flash Memory counterparts; and because of the hard drive, they're also more fragile. Hard drive MP3 players are great value for money and are perfect for anyone looking for a player with a high storage capacity. Flash memory players are more robust, making them perfect for athletes. With up to 8GB of memory (and even more in the future) in a casing the size of a cigarette lighter, you can easily store over 3,000 songs! So, how to choose between these two devices? Because of improvements in the miniaturisation of storage technologies, newer generation hard drive players are hardly bigger than their flash memory counterparts, so size is no longer a deciding factor. You should choose your MP3 player according to the storage capacity you need and the design you like. To get a rough idea of how much memory you need, count 1MB per minute of music. Since the size of a song depends on how it was encoded, MP3 players featuring more memory are a safer bet. 4 to 8GB is usually enough for day-to-day use. After using your Flash memory MP3 player for several hours, you can recharge the battery and music library simply by plugging it into your computer via USB - it only takes a few seconds to transfer all of your favourite albums onto your player!

Multimedia entertainment on the move

If you love the latest technological gadgets and you're looking for more than just an MP3 player, then a multimedia player would suit you down to the ground! With all their additional features, multimedia players are bulkier than MP3 players. However, they allow you to listen to music, view photos, and even watch videos on a single device. With a built-in colour screen (ranging from 2.5 to 4.3 inches), your entire media library is at your fingertips. Some multimedia players are equipped with speakers or microphones so you can switch effortlessly from watching a movie, to taking notes or listening to a podcast. Upload any file (including video) in seconds thanks to USB 2.0, just as you would with an MP3 player. Some multimedia players even offer Wifi, so you can surf the internet even when you're on the move! Music and videos are also available to buy online. No need for a PC - your new multimedia player will become your mobile entertainment ally! Battery life and storage capacity are crucial when it comes to choosing your multimedia player. Standard quality films in DivX format (the most popular MPEG4) usually take up 500 to 700 MB memory space. Currently, a multimedia player’s hard drive can store up to 160GB, which can be increased if you add a memory card (where possible). Besides storing a number of videos, you’ll also want your multimedia player to have enough battery life to play your films all the way through -- after all, you don't want your player to run out of juice right in the middle of that crucial scene! Most multimedia players are able to show videos for 5 to 8 hours and can play music for several dozen hours.

High capacity and high performances for crystal-clear sound.

When you live for music, you don't want to do without it. If you expect your MP3 player to keep up and always provide you with the highest quality sound, you’ll want a jukebox player with a long-lasting battery life and a slim figure to boot. Because they’re compact and can often hold more than 100GB, hard drive MP3 players are more than you could ask for. You can enjoy your favourite albums in high quality for hours on end. The LCD screen on a hard drive MP3 player ensures easy browsing, so you can find that song or artist that's been on the tip of your tongue in just a couple of seconds... The LCD screen is also great for viewing photos thanks to its ultra high definition. If the screen is OLED, quality will be even higher. Because of its advanced technology, an OLED screen provides crystal clear images, even in bright sunlight. Most hard drive MP3 players come fully equipped with equaliser software and a number of settings so you can get the most out of your music. A player with a band equaliser resolves any issues that may be linked to your headphones or speakers.

Headphones

Are you tired of poor quality headphones that don’t stay in place? The headphones supplied with MP3 players don’t always do much for sound quality. Choose a pair of headphones that best fits your needs and your idea of comfort. Choices include ear-pads, neckbands and in-ear designs. In-ear designs isolate ambient sound by sitting snugly in the ear. Their sound quality is comparable to that of larger models such as Hi-Fi headphones. Traditional headphones are bigger and offer both comfort and optimum quality. If your MP3 player is Bluetooth compatible, you can say goodbye to annoying cables and enjoy your music on Bluetooth headphones instead! Not only do these devices have a long-lasting battery life; they can be hooked up to TVs and game consoles too. Share your music with friends and family with some MP3 speakers. These speakers couple unrivalled power with design, and work on batteries or the mains.

Recharging your MP3 player

You can connect your MP3 player to your home entertainment set-up by using a docking station -- and you can recharge it at the same time. Docking stations even let you hook your multimedia player up to your TV to enjoy its contents on a big screen. A second battery will let you enjoy your multimedia player for longer -- a must for globe-trotters! AC adapters come in very handy when you're abroad too; if you have more than one MP3 player, you’ll only need to carry around one charger. See all Docking Stations

Connectivity

MP3 connections are great for transferring music, photos and videos to your player and hooking your multimedia player up to your TV, stereo or car radio. Make sure that the cables are compatible with your MP3 player, as they are often manufactured for specific brands. FM transmitters pick up FM frequencies and are used to link your MP3 player to any working FM radio.

Maximum memory, minimum size

Because it's the ultimate mobile device, the size of your MP3 player is an important element to take into account, especially if you travel or if you're into sports. Flash memory MP3 players are the smallest and lightest, whilst those with hard drives are heavier and bulkier. Hard drive MP3 players are cheaper and also provide greater storage capacity; flash memory technology is, however, moving in the same direction.

Battery capacity

All MP3 players can be recharged when hooked up to your PC, but they don't all have the same amount of battery life. The more functions a device has, the quicker the batteries discharge. If you’re looking for a low-maintenance MP3 player to take everywhere with you, you should consider one with a flash memory; its batteries can last for up to a week without needing to be recharged. The batteries in hard drive MP3 players don’t last as long, but can be recharged quickly with an adapter. Multimedia players -- more powerful and therefore more power hungry -- have larger batteries and are able to play videos for 6 to 7 hours without switching off.

Screens for better interaction

Apart from ultra-compact models, most MP3 players have a screen (sometimes touch-sensitive) to make it easier to switch tracks. The screen size determines how big a player is and how long the battery lasts -- so choose wisely! If you would like to use your multimedia player comfortably – when watching films for example -- pick a player with a wide screen of at least 4.3 inches and built-in speakers to share the entertainment. Flash memory players are lighter, easy to carry around and usually have 2-inch screens that display album covers and general information about your music. Whether they're colour or black & white, OLED technology (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) is being used more often for MP3 player screens. LCD technology is still used for smaller screens. If you want a more precise picture, opt for TFT technology.

Watch out for different formats!

Many other compression formats besides MP3 are available to you. These formats are proprietary, which means they were developed by a company to be used in their own appliances. WMA and AAC have already been brought up, but you will also see ATRAC, OGG or WAV formats. Make sure your MP3 player is compatible with your music formats; no one player is able to accept all existing formats/technologies. You’ll also want to check your multimedia player’s compatibility with different photo and video formats, because you’re going to have to encode your files. Every codec has upsides and downsides, so you'll have to find the middle ground between quality and quantity. In any case, always check that your MP3 player can still play your files after you’ve encoded them (pay closer attention to codecs like WMV, MPEG-4 and DivX for video, and JPEG and RAW for photo).

Stay connected. Everywhere.

Multimedia players are really versatile. They give you wireless access to the internet and to the files in your PC. Thanks to Bluetooth, you can connect your player to a compatible headset for total freedom of movement! Connect two sets of headphones to your player to share the fun. You can also transfer home movies from your laptop to your multimedia player. With Bluetooth, you can take a trip down memory lane as often as you like!