MP3 Players and Their Variety

The era of MP3 format and MP3 players goes on and it is not going to slow down. Today more and more people are striving to have a mobile gadget, called PMP (which stands for portable media player) so that they could enjoy the favorite music anywhere and anytime.

However, some people run into a problem, when buying an MP3 player and the problem is called "CHOICE". You can never know exactly what kind of gadget you need, when there are so many types of them. When speaking of types of MP3 players, one usually means the following:

• Flash Memory Players;
• Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Players;
• MP3 CD Players;
• Mini-Disc MP3 Players, and
• Hybrid Players.

The first in the list of MP3 players are the MP3 players with integrated flash memory. The memory of such devices can vary from a hundred megabytes to several gigabytes, yet in many cases they can store not as many tracks as other players. Unlike older models of MP3 players, such as CD MP3 players, most of the flash memory based gadgets can be also used as a way to transport files from one computer to another.

Hard Drive Players are players, which have an HDD as their main storage for music and files. The list of such players begins with iPods, which are today's most popular MP3 players in the world.

There are also players which use MicroDrives for storing files. Such micro drives are also hard disks, though physically smaller. So they can handle not as much data as HDD-based players can. The battery (usually built-in) of such gadgets can supply enough power for continuous playback of up to 20 hours.

The storage capacity of HDD-based players varies from several gigabytes (MicroDrive) to tens gigabytes (HDD-based). Some of these players change their status from simple players, with MP3 playback function, to powerful portable media players, able to playback a series of audio formats, and, in addition, video formats (AVI, DivX, MPEG4 - depending on the model). The video playback function of course always has a small, but colorful LCD screen, to show clips and movies on.

The oldest of MP3 players are the CD MP3 players. They are about the same as the audio CD players, but a bit re-built and re-programmed for MP3 playback ability.

Such players were rather popular, in their times. But today there are other times. Back in the past CD players replaced the old cassette players, which provided up to 120 minutes of music. The audio CD players didn't improve this index, but the quality of the sound was extremely improved. And when MP3 came into play, people walking around with a big-sized round thing and dozens of disks looked rather odd. The old CD players where re-programmed to playback MP3 files and the number of disks carried around has also shrunk.

CD MP3 player delivered up to 10 hours of music (that is how much music was on a simple CD, but the time also depended on the batteries used). However, there is a drawback with these players: the user needs a burner in his/her PC to burn the CDs or the rewritables.

MiniDisc MP3 Players are a bit more advanced than their bigger brother - CD MP3 player. First of all, it is obvious that the media of these gadgets is a mini disk. This type of players was produced mainly by Sony, which sported the gadget, the special media disk for it (Hi-MD) and a self-elaborated audio codec (ATRAC3). The player is able to read and understand more traditional audio formats, such as MP3, WAV and WMA.

As for the storage capacity of such Sony produced disks - it could reach up to 1 gigabyte capacity and moreover, the player could be also used for transferring files from PC to another.

The power alimentation of these gadgets is also impressive, as they are powered by just one AA-type battery, and they continuously play for up to 50 hours (in some cases even more).

However, MP3 of today are not limited only to traditional shapes, forms and functions, because the manufacturer tend to integrate the MP3 playback function in just about everything, such as cell phones (which is quite normal), wristwatches, clocks, sun glasses, caps and possibly everything else but shoes, socks and underwear. Yet shoes are good candidates for MP3 playback.

The type of MP3 player is a matter of personal choice and everyone chooses a gadget to suit his/her life style. When you choose a portable media player, you take in consideration how long the gadget will be used, how much it costs and every detail there is to think of; and then, finally, the decision is made, the money is paid and the road is not so boring anymore.

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