Factors to consider when choosing an MP3 player
Ever since the dawn of the walkman back in 1979 people have been drawn to being able to listen to their own music wherever they are on the train or at the gym, music is something that many people enjoy and being able to take that wherever they go is thanks to portable music players. Over the years this concept has progressed from cassette tapes to CDs, briefly to Minidiscs and now the MP3. MP3s are music files that can be created, bought or downloaded over the internet. Initially only listened to on computers there soon came MP3 players that you could carry around with you.
The most popular of which was the Apple iPods, which still goes today although radically expanded from merely an MP3 player and can now playback videos, radio, browse the internet and many other functions. The market for MP3 players has expanded massively with many popular electronics brands such as Sony and Creative making MP3 players too.
Choosing an MP3 player can be difficult when faced with many different brands and models. Quite often people are going to go with whatever brand is most recognized, like the iPod. The issue many people have reported with iPods though is that it requires one piece of software to add music on to it and doesn’t allow any other software to use it unlike others.
Other MP3 players are unable to interact with the iPod’s store iTunes. ITunes is one of the biggest online markets for buying albums online but there are other options such as Amazon’s MP3 store. Every MP3 player should be compatible with your own CDs that you have converted to MP3s too. The biggest decision that seems to be facing customers these days though is what their priorities are when it comes to a portable media device: Do they want more features or more storage? There seems to be a growing shift in the market where some people will choose MP3 players that not necessarily have a wide range of features, an application store, personal organizer and many other extras. Instead they are looking for an ever increasing number of gigabytes at their disposal. Other customers are looking for smaller, lighter devices for using at the gym and so smaller MP3 players like the iPod nano whilst smaller in storage space are tiny enough to slip in your pocket. These have recently had more quirky features such as a small video camera that is able to take short videos on the go.
The best way to find out which MP3 player is right for you is to consider how much storage space you need, what features you would really like to see and how big you want the player to be. With answers to these three deciding factors you should be able to find exactly what you need in your next portable mini hi fi system!