MP3 Players - How To Choose The One That’s Right For You!

There are a wide variety of MP3 players on the market today, so first you need to decide which type and style best suits your needs. Before you go shopping, be ready to answer these questions.

• When and where will you use MP3 and for how long? -- Just at the sports club? In the car? At home or in the dorm?
• What size will you need? - How small? How portable?
• How many songs do you want your MP3 player to hold? -- A player with 1GB of memory can hold approximately 250 MP3 songs with a playback time of 16 hours or 500 WMA songs with a playback time of 32 hours. (This is based on a four-minute song at 128 kbps MP3.) How large is your music collection?
• In addition to listening to music what other features do you want? -- Listen to the radio? Podcasts? Watch videos? Store or take photos?
• What's your budget? -- The more your want your MP3 player to do – the more memory it requires and the more it will cost!
• What style and color do you prefer? -- MP3 players come in a wide variety of colors and styles – from those that clip on to your shirt, to ones that feature large display screens.

There are three basic types of MP3 players.

* Flash Memory Players – this is the smallest and lightest of the MP3 players and is perfect for exercisers and people on the go because they contain no moving parts. They also offer video and photo capabilities. Typically, these players hold memory from 1GB to 32GB. Sansa from SanDisk provides a variety of flash memory MP3 players in a wide variety of sizes and colors.

* Hard Drive and Mini-hard Drive Players – these MP3 players are larger and heavier than flash memory players but offer a lot more storage – up to 80GB. They can hold an entire library of songs, photos, data and videos. However, these hard drives consume more power and, because they include moving parts, may skip. The Apple iPod is a good example of this type.

* The Hybrid Players - MP3 technology can now be found on cell pones, PDAs, radios, and even swim goggles.

Most types of players support in addition to MP3 files, WMV, secure WMA and Audible files. Those that play video usually support MPEG4, WMV, H.264, WAV, non-DRM AAC.

Once you have picked out the right player you now need to add the digital music!

There are many ways to add music to your player – depending on your device and your needs.

• You can simply download MP3 files from the Web to your computer and then on to your player. All you need besides your MP3 player is a computer with a sound card, speakers, and an Internet connection. And there are tons of sites devoted to music downloads – some for free, some for a fee and some are subscription based.

• If you have a collection of CDs and want to convert those CDs to MP3 files, you need ripper and encoder software. Some computers and players come with this software but in addition you can download several great programs for free including Audio Grabber, FreeRip and Exact Audio Copy. When talking about "ripping" music from a CD, by law, it is only legal to take a CD you have purchased, upload it onto your computer, and put it on to your MP3 player only. You can not share this music with anyone.

The ripper copies a song's file from your CD onto your hard disk. The encoder then compresses the song into the MP3 format, allowing it to be downloaded to your MP3 player. Some players streamline the entire process and have the ability to record songs directly from your CD player. The song goes directly from the CD to the digital format without using a computer. For legal music sites approved by the music industry go to http://www.riaa.com/.

Where do you want to listen to your MP3s?

Simple accessories allow you to take and play your MP3s pretty much anywhere, the possibilities are almost endless.

• Listen to them in your car with a wireless FM modulator or connect directly into your car stereo’s head phone jack or audio inputs.
• Hook them up to your home stereo for full surround sound
• Wake up to your favorite song using a clock radio
• Take your sounds to the street with portable speakers that run on batteries
• Enjoy your music on the water with a waterproof sound case!

As you can see, it is important to really think about what you need before you buy.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/mp3-player3.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripping