Compare MP3 Players for the Coolest Features and Sweetest Deals

How can you compare mp3 players to be sure you're getting the best features and price? You've checked some mp3 player ratings, and they're helpful. But iPod reviews and ratings don't answer all your questions. So how do you decide?
Here's a great little checklist for your player comparison. Use these criteria to compare players and you'll have no problem choosing the right one. Simply rate each mp3 player you're comparing by assigning a value of 1-10 to each of the six criteria. Total the points and voilá, your own custom mp3 player reviews. The players with the highest totals are your best mp3 players, and fit your budget.

MP3 Player Comparison Check-List

1. Features (Rating ____)
Built-in FM tuner, voice recorder, display screen size & functions, hold, plug-n-play, remote, equalizer, search, shuffle and repeat are some features to compare.
2. Memory (Rating ____)
Flash players have 64MB to 1GB and hold 20 to 300+ songs. Micro-drive player memory is 4GB to 60GB and will hold your entire music collection, plus photos and other data.
3. Battery (Rating ____)
Built-in rechargeable (some replaceable, some not), or standard replaceable (typically AAA). Some players require battery recharge or replacement after 10 hours or less, while others may get 40-50 hours continuous play time.
4. File and System Format (Rating ____)
Most players play MP3 and WMA file formats. Some also play ATRAC, OGG and other formats. Also make sure the players you're comparing are compatible with your computer (PC or Mac).
5. Price (Rating ____)
Features, memory, etc. will determine a price range for the mp3 player you want. Modify some of your criteria if on a tight budget and looking for cheap mp3 players.
6. Brand and Style (Rating ____)
Largely personal preference, but important if your reviews tell you a particular brand and/or style is the best for you.
For more information see How Do MP3 Players Work
MP3 players information from A to Z: player types & features, how they work, accessories,comparisons and more - plus free music download tips and info at A-Z MP3 Players.com, Your Complete A-Z Resource for MP3 Players, Accessories and Information.
This article may be re-printed in its entirety, with no changes and this resource box included. © 2005 A-Z MP3 Players.All rights reserved

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Things to Consider Before You Buy an MP3 Player for Audio Books

It is commonly accepted that portable media device manufacturers designed their products for music and not for audio books. However, with the increasing popularity of audio books, more and more people are embracing portable media technology in order to enjoy audio books; we are no longer limited to listening to downloaded audio books on our personal computers and laptops.
Unfortunately, not all mp3 players are the same, and there are some that are better geared toward audio books than others. Below are a few things to keep in mind when you are looking for an mp3 player for th main purpose of listening to audio books.

* Make sure the mp3 player has a good volume feature. Quite often it is difficult to hear a person’s voice when there is a lot of background noise. For example, if you’re listening to an audio book while jogging and you come across a construction site, you could miss some of the audio to the sound of the tools.

* Examine how each mp3 player handles interruption. When listening to music and the mp3 player gets interrupted for whatever reason, it’s no big deal to skip ahead to the last track you were listening to. With an audio book, this isn’t so simple. Make sure the mp3 player has a memory feature that automatically goes back to where the track was interrupted.

* Be sure the mp3 player has enough memory. Often audio book files are much larger than music files, so be sure the mp3 player has the capacity to hold your books.

* Don’t sacrifice quality and durability for size. Smaller mp3 players are more pleasing to the eye, but they are sometimes of lower quality.

* Make sure the mp3 player was manufactured by a reputable company. Don’t buy just any mp3 player because it costs less.

* Be sure the mp3 player can read encrypted files. Most publishers want to protect their product from piracy, so be sure your mp3 player has DRM (Digital Rights Management) capabilities, often referred to as WMA DRM.

There are also car stereo systems available that have CD players with mp3 capabilities. These devices are great for those who have long commutes and are tired of listening to the same old stuff on the radio. If you already have a portable mp3 player and you want to listen to audio books in your car, but you don’t have a stereo system with mp3 capabilities, don’t fret; you can simply pick up an AUX socket to connect your mp3 player to your car’s CD player.
Margret Lilin is the webmaster at AudioBookFanClub.com, an online mega store that provides a wide selection of discounted audio books in various categories. The site constantly gives away surprise gifts and bonuses to subscribers and customers. To search for bargain MP3 players please visit our sister site IncomePlaza.com


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How to Choose an MP3 Player

The sale of Mp3 players is one of the fastest growing areas of consumer electronics. Whilst the apple iPod is synonymous with MP3 players there are many alternatives that should be considered when you are looking to buy. Do you know what you to look for when buying an MP3 Player?

Steps

Consider the amount of storage available. At the lower end of the market a 512mb to 1Gb player will generally hold up to 200 songs. If you have a large music collection then you should look for devices that offer at least 20 GB's of storage. In general every 10 GB's will hold around 2,900 MP3 files

Think about portability; if you have an active lifestyle then you will need a player that is small and compact. If you intend to use your player whilst jogging or whilst training in the Gym then a flash based system will be a better choice as they contain no moving parts and therefore won't skip.

Decide on the type of interface you want. Will the interface be easy to access and use on the move or will it require 100% of your attention to choose your songs? This is one area that is often overlooked and is one of the major areas of dissatisfaction among users.

Examine how the device is powered. Many MP3 players come with built in rechargeable batteries, whilst these are very convenient and can last for a long time, if you are not able to recharge them or don't have access to a computer with a usb port you then you will need to wait to charge the player up.

Few tips to look on

The best deals for MP3 players are available online but before you buy make sure you know what you need. The right MP3 player is an excellent buy and will remain in use for many years; the wrong one will soon be consigned to the bottom drawer.

Just because everyone has a IPod, doesn't make them the best. iRiver MP3 players for example, are cheaper than iPods and have more storage space for roughly the same price. Think about things like that.

Ask your friends for advice, and listen to music on other people's MP3's, because often gives you an idea for sound quality.


Authors : Online Prophet, Ben Rubenstein, Nicole Willson, Flickety, GEorGE_3, Anonymous, Daniel H, eric yengoyan, Jack H, Travis Derouin

Techsplosion, Cheap MP3 Players & More - Welcome To Techsplosion!

Introduction

The MP3 player is the most recent in an evolution of music formats that have helped consumers enjoy their music.
Using the MP3 compression system reduces the amount of space a song requires (number of bytes) yet it retains sound that is near CD-quality.
All of that stored music fits into an MP3 player - a device about the size of a deck of cards! That's a big difference in size compared to carrying a CD player and CD storage cases. MP3 players are far easier to carry around and are much more portable. MP3 Players have become so much more popular because they are cheap, portable and above all, MP3 players are cheap to own with prices starting at less than £19.99.
MP3 players are able to automatically detect the recording formats your sound card supports and then set the application's parameters for the best possible performance.
MP3 players can record many sources: CD’s, Voices from built in microphones (much like a Dictaphone), the internet from sources such as Napster, MSN Music, Virgin Digital and iTunes. They also integrate with a number of cheap or free MP3 software packages such as Win amp, Windows Media Player, Quick Time and RealPlayer.

About techsplosion.co.uk:
Techsplosion specialize in the sale of MP3 players, ranging from cheap MP3 players (e.g. 128MB MP3 players and 26MB MP3 players) to high end MP3 players such as the Samsung YH-J70, Samsung YH-999, Samsung YH-920 and Samsung YH-925 - many of which are DRM 10 or Janus compatible MTP Devices which work with cheap subscription based music download services such as MSN, Napster and Virgin. In addition to cheap MP3 players, blank discs (DVD and CD) Techsplosion also sell cheap Inkrite Ink cartridges for Epson and Canon printers, Nintendo DS consoles, cheap Nintendo DS games and value Nintendo DS accessories. They also have a wide range of Sony PSP consoles, PSP games and PSP accessories. All of these exciting products are available to buy online from their store… what are you waiting for? Start shopping online today!

About Techsplosion Products:
Techsplosion sell a variety of different MP3 players ranging from cheap MP3 players to high end MP3 players like Apple ipods such as the iPod Nano, iPod shuffle, iPod video and the Samsung YH-J70, Samsung YH-999, Samsung YH-925, Samsung YH-920 and the new Janus compatible T-Classic flash MP3 players.

The T-classic MP3 players are available in a number of memory sizes e.g. 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB. These cheap, affordable MP3 players are among the very first flash based MTP devices on the market. These cheap MP3 players / MTP devices are among the cheapest MP3 players available today on the market which work with subscription based music services such as Napster to go, Virgin Digital and MSN. These subscription based music services enable users to pay a monthly fee for which they may download as much music to their MP3 players as they want to. On top of that these MP3 players are solid dependable MP3 players with built in FM radio, bright backlight display and enough memory to store loads of music.

The T-Classic MP3 players are extremely well designed, They are powered by a single AAA battery which lasts approximately 10 hours from new making these cheap strong>MP3 players cheap to run. They also have a bright, 7-colour LCD backlight display and feature play list support via Napster and Windows Media Player 10, resume function, user friendly menus and an easy to use interface. They also have a removable USB cap which enables the end user to plug their device directly into their PC without the need for a cable.

The T-Classic strong>MP3 players are available in different colours such as Blue, White, Red, Silver Black, Orange and Pink – they really do offer something for everyone without upsetting their budget.


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Choosing An MP3 Player To Groove To

If you've decided that you want get yourself a portable MP3 player, or digital music player, you've probably discovered that there are myriads of choices to choose from. Not only that, you can easily spend fifty dollars or five hundred dollars on an MP3 player.
In this article, I'll go over the three major categories of MP3 players, with tips for choosing the best one.
1: MP3 CD PlayersAn MP3 CD player is a digital music player that plays CDs – either standard audio CDs or MP3 CDs. MP3 CDs use a different file format than standard CDs, so they can hold many times the number of songs a standard CD can. With most computers, you can easily burn MP3 CDs for use with your player.
2: Flash Based MP3 PlayersA Flash Based Player uses a static form of media such as a memory card to store your digital music on. You can get Flash based players that hold any where from 64MB (about 15-20 songs) up to several Gigabytes of music.
Flash players are general the toughest of the three types, and can take knocks and bangs better. My flash based player (a Rio Sport model) has been dropped and kicked many times while running, but it still goes strong.
Most flash players use a USB interface to connect to your computer so you can easily load them up with music.
3: Hard drive based MP3 Players As the name suggests, a hard drive MP3 player uses a hard drive to store your music on. They generally have the largest storage capacity, up to about 100 GB of music, which will hold all but the very largest of music collections. Just like flash players, most hard drive players use a USB interface to connect to your computer so you can easily load them up with music.

Visit http://www.outdoorsandin.com/ or http://www.outdoorsandin.com/mp3players.html for quality MP3 players.

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What to Consider When Buying an MP3 Player?By Lily S.

What to Consider When Buying an MP3 Player?

Agreed that MP3 player manufacturers didn't plan their products solely for audio books, but for music. But these days many people have embraced MP3 players mostly for listening to audio books.
The fact that they can carry around their MP3 players, instead of listening to audio books on the PCs make the players very popular.
But if you don't know what you are looking for, you might end up buying the wrong MP3 player for listening to your audio books.
Below are some of the factors to consider that will help you get the right MP3 for listening to your audio book:
1. The most important factor to consider when buying an MP3 player for your audio book is the way it handles interruption. Unlike music that you can start afresh when interrupted, it isn't so much fun to have to start an audio book from the beginning after listening to it for up to 2 hours.
So, take your time to search for MP3 players that allow users to continue from the exact spot they stopped.
You can test the MP3 player before paying for it. If it works fine, then go ahead. If it doesn't, search for another that does.
2. Ensure that the MP3 player's volume is loud enough. In as much as you can use an earphone to listen to the MP3 player, it is ideal if the volume is loud enough to be listened to in a noisy surrounding.
3. Ensure that the MP3 has a large memory. Since you would be storing your audio book in the MP3 player, you should purchase the one that has enough memory for audio books of up to 5 hours or more.
4. The smaller an MP3 player is, the more attractive it looks. But don't sacrifice size for quality or durability.
5. Ensure that the MP3 player is manufactured by a popular brand. It wouldn't be wise to buy just any MP3 player because of low cost. There are many low quality MP3 players that are made from Asian countries. Many of these are not worth buying.
6. And lastly, ensure that the MP3 player that you purchase can play encrypted files. Many publishers prefer their audiobook content to be protected, so your MP3 player needs to be able to play files that are using Digital Rights Management (DRM). This is often referred to as WMA DRM.

If you are interested in listening to audio books in your car, simply get a CDMP3 player or get any AUX socket with which you can connect to an MP3 player.
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*Please feel free to copy, send, or distribute this article at anytime as long as the article is not changed, and the entire author resource box is included with the article as written.


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How to buy an mp3 player

Introduction

The digital revolution has caught up with the venerable Walkthing. An MP3 player is the perfect tool for people on the go who have moved their music collections onto their computers. Because they're digital-- some with absolutely no moving parts--MP3 players don't skip or warble if you're running, skiing or biking.

Instructions

Step One
Shop for price. MP3 players range from $60 for a bare-bones RCA Lyra to $500 for the top-of-the-line Apple iPod. Other popular brands are Creative Labs, SonicBlue, Archos, Samsung, Sony and Panasonic.

Step Two
Get a player with as much storage as you can afford. The more storage, the more music it can hold. One minute of MP3 music takes up about 1 megabyte (MB) of memory, so a 128 MB MP3 player can hold about two hours of tunes. Unlike computers, memory and storage are sometimes used synonymously in MP3 players, since the storage in smaller devices (under 128 MB) is usually made of Flash memory chips.

Step Three
Make sure any potential purchase works with your computer. Many MP3 players don't work with Macintosh computers, though that's improving.

Step Four
Try the controls. Less-expensive players often have control panels that can charitably be described as "minimalist." Make sure they make sense to you.

Step Five
Pick up the unit to gauge its size and weight. Would it be comfortable in your pocket or on your belt? How about when you're moving around?

Step Six
Check out the player's advertised battery life. Manufacturers' claims aren't exact, but they can be used for comparison.

Step Seven
Choose a unit with USB or FireWire, rather than a parallel connection to your computer. USB and FireWire are fast and flexible.

Step Eight
Look for a player with an FM radio receiver. Some models can record music from the radio, and will identify the artist and title the next time you connect the player to your computer. Some also double as digital voice recorders.

Step Nine
Look for expandable storage, especially on units without much built-in memory. CompactFlash, MemoryStick and SecureDigital media are common choices. Newer models with more storage have internal hard disks that can store computer data.

Step Ten
Have a listen. MP3 players use standard stereo headphones. If you don't like the headphones that come with a player, there are a variety of styles you can purchase.

by eHow Electronics Editor

Secrets Of How To Buy A Cheap mp3 Player

There is no doubt that, since the advent of the original mp3 players some years ago, it has become considerably easier to make your music or downloaded audiobooks truly mobile.
But, if you look to buy a branded machine in your local high street or at the mall, like an iPod, for example, you’ll quickly discover that it is not a cheap mp3 player.
So, do you have to spend large sums of money to avail yourself of an mp3 player?
Absolutely not! It is actually not that difficult to buy a cheap mp3 player, and these articles will show you how to go about it.
If you are looking to buy a cheap mp3 player, it is safe to assume that you are working to a budget. So, the first step, way before you attempt to locate and buy a cheap mp3 player, is to decide what your budget actually is, exactly how much money you can afford to spend on your cheap mp3 player.
Now, this may seem very obvious, but often, it seems to be forgotten.
However, there is a simple reason for this, I believe.
Imagine for a moment that you are NOT in the market to buy cheap mp3 player, but are, instead, able and willing to shell out for a branded model.
Then, the pricing structure is very easy to understand. You want an mp3 player with 1GB of memory it will cost you less than a player with 2GB. Likewise, a 512MB memory machine will cost less than a 1GB player, but more than a 256MB.
At the top end of the range, an 80GB video iPod will cost more than a 30GB video player.
And so on, and so forth, ad infinitum.
Thus, it’s all very logical and straightforward.
You decide the specification that you want, how much memory storage your branded mp3 player should have, whether you want video or not and so on. This points you to a certain model, and you can either afford it or you cannot.
You can afford it, you buy it. If not, you reduce your expectations, and go for a lower specification model.
If you want to buy a cheap mp3 player, however, the picture is far less clear, for several reasons.
Firstly, to buy a cheap mp3 player, you are going to have to look beyond the stores in the high street or local mall. Those stores will concentrate their efforts on selling higher margin branded models, and probably carry very few cheap mp3 players, if any at all.
Secondly, once you look beyond the high street and actually find good places to buy cheap mp3 players, you will the second problem, the problem that makes it so important to decide on your budget first.
And this is, because of the competition in the cheap mp3 player market sector, the pricing structure is not at all logical!
Thus, Company A might offer you a 2GB player for $100, whereas Company B may only offer 1GB for the same price. So, the first reaction would probably be, go with Company A, and that could be 100% the correct decision.
But, it could equally be 100% the wrong decision, simply because, when you are in the market for a cheap mp3 player, the specifications of machines vary far more widely than seem to in the branded market.
It could be something as simple as the quality of the earphone set that comes as standard with the cheap mp3 player. It could be the warranty that you get from Company B, in our fictitious situation above, offers 12 months protection, rather than the 6 months offered by Company A.
In the final analysis, when you go to buy cheap mp3 player, you have to pay far more attention to the “small print” than you do when you buy in the local mall.
Steve Cowan is a self titled music aficionado and avid mp3 fan. Discover what his “Top 6” cheap mp3 players are, and get a unique free report “Top 99 Free mp3 Downloads” at his website a http://www.buycheapmp3player.info/

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