Tip #4001 - Buying an MP3 Player: What to Look For
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Buying
an MP3 Player: What to Look For
MP3 players are one
too many these days. Music on the move is fine, but being bombarded with
choices can be quite a pain when you are ready to buy one. Do you go with
a well known name, such as Apple and their iPod or do you take a chance
on a cheaper, not so well known maker? Well, to make your decision a little
easier, here is a rough guide on what to look for when buying an MP3 player.
Memory
Memory is the key
to an MP3 player. Therefore, the greater the memory, the better it is.
You can store that many more songs and so on. There's nothing like it!
Audio/Video
Formats
If your player supports
a number of audio and video formats, it’s a great value add, because
you don’t have to bother looking for a software program that converts
it to a compatible format. The audio formats include MP3, WMA, FLAC, Ogg
Vorbis and WAV, while the video formats include MPEG-1, MPEG-4, DivX,
XviD and WMV. Also, remember, if the player has many audio equalizers
and bands, the better acoustics it can offer. If it has a manual dial,
that's even better as well.
Functionality
Examine the number
of features the MP3 player boasts of and then see if they match your needs.
Often times, we end up buying something because it has everything we want,
even though we tend not to use most of them. Some key functions that should
help you make a decision are a text viewer, picture viewer, video player,
FM radio and voice recorder.
Battery
Lithium ion batteries
are better than AA Alkaline cells for a longer life. It’s always
best to opt for a long battery life, because you don’t want your
player to die down in the middle of an emotionally rousing number.
Value Adds
It’s the extra
features that go a long way in helping you make your choice. Some of them
include a systematic and user friendly playlist management feature that
allows you to create a personalized playlist, as opposed to playing songs
in a sequential or random order. The other important feature is the ability
of the player to directly record from external sources using an audio
or video line-in feature. Direct encoding allows you to record in MP3
format as well. And what’s more, some players allow you to read
the saved lyrics on the display screen.
Listening
Pleasure
Listen to fast and
slow numbers and determine the sound quality. A bad experience here could
mean a definite no! And while you're at it, check the headphone quality
as well. If you can hear all the musical instruments in the song, you
are on to a good thing. But, if several musical elements sound muffled,
it’s not only a bad headphone, but the MP3 player isn’t in
good shape either.
Look and Feel
Every gadget is also
a style statement. So, look for stylistic players that not only score
on looks, but are also hardy and scratch resistant. The smaller and lighter
they are, the better they will look.
Browsing Interface
Player interface is
as important as the player itself. That means, jog dials and touch screens
that facilitate easier browsing score over the others that are too cumbersome
to handle. The best player for browsing is of course, Apple’s version.
Guaranteed
Tenure
Some players carry
a warranty of one year and some have three years. It’s better to
go for a player that offers more security.
Get Your Money’s
Worth
You have a certain
budget and you want a few important things for your player. It could be
stylish with a basic musical capability. It could be a great music player,
even if you aren’t unduly concerned about the looks, etc. What you
need to do is take a look at all the features offered by the player and
combine those with its performance. Based on this, you should calculate
whether or not the price justifies the features it offers.
Flash Drive
vs. Hard Drive
Some players have
flash based memory, while the others are hard drive based. The only difference
is that while flash based players can only store a maximum of 8 GB worth
of memory, the hard drive ones can store up to 80 GB. But, of course,
they are a lot more bulkier than the flash based players. Importantly,
look for a player that allows you to directly transfer files from USB
devices, like digital cameras and flash drives. But, if you're not the
type to hook a player up to your computer very often, stay away from flash
memory MP3 players. Otherwise, you'll end up listening to the same tunes
over and over again. MP3 CD players are the only portable audio players
that don't need to be connected to your computer in order to load songs
to the memory.
And Finally...
Some of the good models
available in the market include Cowon iAudio U3, Iriver E10, Iriver S10
M, Creative Zen Vision M, Cowon A2 and of course, the Apple iPod. Choose
the player that makes you happy as you listen to your tunes. Fancy features,
unknown buttons and dancing icons on the screen make for fun bells and
whistles, but if the player is too complicated to figure out, you might
not love it as much as you should. Choose for yourself. Your happiness
is all that matters!
~ Zahid H. Javali
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