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There are many opinions flying around at the moment, about MP3 and portable MP3 players, and I saw a question in one of the discussion forums about these players, so I decided to dispel my knowledge.
I own a portable MP3 player, one of the first ones that was released (because it was the cheapest). It is called the MPMan and is made by Samsung. It is one of the first generation players so only has 32MB of built in memory, which realistically speaking only gives you about 30 minutes of music (manufacturers claim that 32MB gives an hour of music, but with MP3’s at a good quality bitrate (sound quality) this is halved.) I upgraded mine with an extra 32MB of memory, so it now holds about an hour of music, and about 12/14 songs.
At first, the debate was whether it would be better to buy a MiniDisc player or a portable MP3 player, and they were roughly the same price. Most people thought a minidisk player was better because you get over an hour of music on each minidisk, and an MP3 player could only hold an hour of music that you were stuck with until you got back to your computer, so not very practical if you want varied music when you go away on holiday. However if you only listen to it for a short time everyday, like I listen to it at lunchtime in school, then you can change the songs when you get back home. A portable MP3 player is also better if you want one for jogging (not that I jog, personally, but so I gather) because they will never skip, and are lighter than Minidisc players (they also use less batteries than minidisk players.) The suitability of an MP3 player for you also depends what format most of your music is stored on, because if its all MP3s, then obviously an MP3 player is more practical, however if your music is mostly on CDs then it is easier to get a minidisk player and copy your CDs onto Minidiscs. But you could also get a Minidisc player that you can record on (although they are quite a lot more expensive) then you can connect it to your computer and create minidisks from your Mp3s using your portable player. That’s most of the advantages and disadvantages of MP3 players over a minidisk player.
Fairly new on the market are MP3 players with huge storage capacity, between 6Gb and 10Gb (that’s a lot of music, about 100 hours for a 6GB player). They have such large capacities because they use a hard drive similar to those in PCs as their storage medium rather than memory card type storage, which is used in the smaller players like mine. They are about the same size as a portable CD player, a bit bulkier perhaps and heavier, and are quite expensive at around £350. This generation of player is obviously better if you want to use it to carry around your entire music collection stored in MP3 format if you are going on holiday for long periods of time, or if you want a semi-portable player to take music to your office, as opposed to carrying a large hi-fi and a collection of CDs. However these titans of the MP3 world have their disadvantages: their weight probably means they are too heavy to lug around all day, if you want music while you are on the move, and the same goes if you are planning on jogging with it.
You may have also heard about the portable CD players that can play CD’s containing music in MP3 format (as opposed to WAV format, where you can only fit 74 minutes of music onto a CD, storing music in MP3 format means you can have hundreds of tracks on one CD. Sounds like a good idea, because you could have your entire music collection on a few CDs with a player the size and weight of a normal CD player (they also play normal audio CDs, so you can still play your purchased albums, and they also play Video CDs if you connect it to your television). It all sounds wonderful, however the technology in these players is still quite young (as is most of the tech. that I have been blabbing about) so it has its disadvantages. With one that I tried out – made by Napa, I put in a CD with about 200 MP3s on it and after much fiddly and frustrating pushings of tiny buttons and a remote control that has to be less than 1m away and in exact line of sight of the receiver on the front, I managed to get some music! The track counter counted up to about 600, which I thought was strange. For some reason it had split every single track into three or more separate tracks, and when it was playing back, it stopped for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed, between each track, which, as you can imagine, is REALLY annoying! It also had a major problem with skipping (although it said on the box that it had a 40second anti-jog memory function), you try and pick the player up and the music stopped, for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed again and found the song (so jogging is out of the question). Another problem is that with so many tracks on a CD, it’s fairly difficult to know where a particular song is, because the player doesn’t display song names, just numbers. I suppose these players will get better and sort out their teething problems, but I suggest steering clear of them for the time being, as I read of similar problems in a review of a different player.
The right player for you depends on how you would use it, what your priorities are and how the majority of your music is currently stored. Personally, I’m happy with my little MP3 player, but some extra memory wouldn’t go amiss, does anybody know anything about large capacity memory cards for MP3 players?
I own a portable MP3 player, one of the first ones that was released (because it was the cheapest). It is called the MPMan and is made by Samsung. It is one of the first generation players so only has 32MB of built in memory, which realistically speaking only gives you about 30 minutes of music (manufacturers claim that 32MB gives an hour of music, but with MP3’s at a good quality bitrate (sound quality) this is halved.) I upgraded mine with an extra 32MB of memory, so it now holds about an hour of music, and about 12/14 songs.
At first, the debate was whether it would be better to buy a MiniDisc player or a portable MP3 player, and they were roughly the same price. Most people thought a minidisk player was better because you get over an hour of music on each minidisk, and an MP3 player could only hold an hour of music that you were stuck with until you got back to your computer, so not very practical if you want varied music when you go away on holiday. However if you only listen to it for a short time everyday, like I listen to it at lunchtime in school, then you can change the songs when you get back home. A portable MP3 player is also better if you want one for jogging (not that I jog, personally, but so I gather) because they will never skip, and are lighter than Minidisc players (they also use less batteries than minidisk players.) The suitability of an MP3 player for you also depends what format most of your music is stored on, because if its all MP3s, then obviously an MP3 player is more practical, however if your music is mostly on CDs then it is easier to get a minidisk player and copy your CDs onto Minidiscs. But you could also get a Minidisc player that you can record on (although they are quite a lot more expensive) then you can connect it to your computer and create minidisks from your Mp3s using your portable player. That’s most of the advantages and disadvantages of MP3 players over a minidisk player.
Fairly new on the market are MP3 players with huge storage capacity, between 6Gb and 10Gb (that’s a lot of music, about 100 hours for a 6GB player). They have such large capacities because they use a hard drive similar to those in PCs as their storage medium rather than memory card type storage, which is used in the smaller players like mine. They are about the same size as a portable CD player, a bit bulkier perhaps and heavier, and are quite expensive at around £350. This generation of player is obviously better if you want to use it to carry around your entire music collection stored in MP3 format if you are going on holiday for long periods of time, or if you want a semi-portable player to take music to your office, as opposed to carrying a large hi-fi and a collection of CDs. However these titans of the MP3 world have their disadvantages: their weight probably means they are too heavy to lug around all day, if you want music while you are on the move, and the same goes if you are planning on jogging with it.
You may have also heard about the portable CD players that can play CD’s containing music in MP3 format (as opposed to WAV format, where you can only fit 74 minutes of music onto a CD, storing music in MP3 format means you can have hundreds of tracks on one CD. Sounds like a good idea, because you could have your entire music collection on a few CDs with a player the size and weight of a normal CD player (they also play normal audio CDs, so you can still play your purchased albums, and they also play Video CDs if you connect it to your television). It all sounds wonderful, however the technology in these players is still quite young (as is most of the tech. that I have been blabbing about) so it has its disadvantages. With one that I tried out – made by Napa, I put in a CD with about 200 MP3s on it and after much fiddly and frustrating pushings of tiny buttons and a remote control that has to be less than 1m away and in exact line of sight of the receiver on the front, I managed to get some music! The track counter counted up to about 600, which I thought was strange. For some reason it had split every single track into three or more separate tracks, and when it was playing back, it stopped for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed, between each track, which, as you can imagine, is REALLY annoying! It also had a major problem with skipping (although it said on the box that it had a 40second anti-jog memory function), you try and pick the player up and the music stopped, for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed again and found the song (so jogging is out of the question). Another problem is that with so many tracks on a CD, it’s fairly difficult to know where a particular song is, because the player doesn’t display song names, just numbers. I suppose these players will get better and sort out their teething problems, but I suggest steering clear of them for the time being, as I read of similar problems in a review of a different player.
The right player for you depends on how you would use it, what your priorities are and how the majority of your music is currently stored. Personally, I’m happy with my little MP3 player, but some extra memory wouldn’t go amiss, does anybody know anything about large capacity memory cards for MP3 players?
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There are many opinions flying around at the moment, about MP3 and portable MP3 players, and I saw a question in one of the discussion forums about these players, so I decided to dispel my knowledge.
I own a portable MP3 player, one of the first ones that was released (because it was the cheapest). It is called the MPMan and is made by Samsung. It is one of the first generation players so only has 32MB of built in memory, which realistically speaking only gives you about 30 minutes of music (manufacturers claim that 32MB gives an hour of music, but with MP3’s at a good quality bitrate (sound quality) this is halved.) I upgraded mine with an extra 32MB of memory, so it now holds about an hour of music, and about 12/14 songs.
At first, the debate was whether it would be better to buy a MiniDisc player or a portable MP3 player, and they were roughly the same price. Most people thought a minidisk player was better because you get over an hour of music on each minidisk, and an MP3 player could only hold an hour of music that you were stuck with until you got back to your computer, so not very practical if you want varied music when you go away on holiday. However if you only listen to it for a short time everyday, like I listen to it at lunchtime in school, then you can change the songs when you get back home. A portable MP3 player is also better if you want one for jogging (not that I jog, personally, but so I gather) because they will never skip, and are lighter than Minidisc players (they also use less batteries than minidisk players.) The suitability of an MP3 player for you also depends what format most of your music is stored on, because if its all MP3s, then obviously an MP3 player is more practical, however if your music is mostly on CDs then it is easier to get a minidisk player and copy your CDs onto Minidiscs. But you could also get a Minidisc player that you can record on (although they are quite a lot more expensive) then you can connect it to your computer and create minidisks from your Mp3s using your portable player. That’s most of the advantages and disadvantages of MP3 players over a minidisk player.
Fairly new on the market are MP3 players with huge storage capacity, between 6Gb and 10Gb (that’s a lot of music, about 100 hours for a 6GB player). They have such large capacities because they use a hard drive similar to those in PCs as their storage medium rather than memory card type storage, which is used in the smaller players like mine. They are about the same size as a portable CD player, a bit bulkier perhaps and heavier, and are quite expensive at around £350. This generation of player is obviously better if you want to use it to carry around your entire music collection stored in MP3 format if you are going on holiday for long periods of time, or if you want a semi-portable player to take music to your office, as opposed to carrying a large hi-fi and a collection of CDs. However these titans of the MP3 world have their disadvantages: their weight probably means they are too heavy to lug around all day, if you want music while you are on the move, and the same goes if you are planning on jogging with it.
You may have also heard about the portable CD players that can play CD’s containing music in MP3 format (as opposed to WAV format, where you can only fit 74 minutes of music onto a CD, storing music in MP3 format means you can have hundreds of tracks on one CD. Sounds like a good idea, because you could have your entire music collection on a few CDs with a player the size and weight of a normal CD player (they also play normal audio CDs, so you can still play your purchased albums, and they also play Video CDs if you connect it to your television). It all sounds wonderful, however the technology in these players is still quite young (as is most of the tech. that I have been blabbing about) so it has its disadvantages. With one that I tried out – made by Napa, I put in a CD with about 200 MP3s on it and after much fiddly and frustrating pushings of tiny buttons and a remote control that has to be less than 1m away and in exact line of sight of the receiver on the front, I managed to get some music! The track counter counted up to about 600, which I thought was strange. For some reason it had split every single track into three or more separate tracks, and when it was playing back, it stopped for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed, between each track, which, as you can imagine, is REALLY annoying! It also had a major problem with skipping (although it said on the box that it had a 40second anti-jog memory function), you try and pick the player up and the music stopped, for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed again and found the song (so jogging is out of the question). Another problem is that with so many tracks on a CD, it’s fairly difficult to know where a particular song is, because the player doesn’t display song names, just numbers. I suppose these players will get better and sort out their teething problems, but I suggest steering clear of them for the time being, as I read of similar problems in a review of a different player.
The right player for you depends on how you would use it, what your priorities are and how the majority of your music is currently stored. Personally, I’m happy with my little MP3 player, but some extra memory wouldn’t go amiss, does anybody know anything about large capacity memory cards for MP3 players?
I own a portable MP3 player, one of the first ones that was released (because it was the cheapest). It is called the MPMan and is made by Samsung. It is one of the first generation players so only has 32MB of built in memory, which realistically speaking only gives you about 30 minutes of music (manufacturers claim that 32MB gives an hour of music, but with MP3’s at a good quality bitrate (sound quality) this is halved.) I upgraded mine with an extra 32MB of memory, so it now holds about an hour of music, and about 12/14 songs.
At first, the debate was whether it would be better to buy a MiniDisc player or a portable MP3 player, and they were roughly the same price. Most people thought a minidisk player was better because you get over an hour of music on each minidisk, and an MP3 player could only hold an hour of music that you were stuck with until you got back to your computer, so not very practical if you want varied music when you go away on holiday. However if you only listen to it for a short time everyday, like I listen to it at lunchtime in school, then you can change the songs when you get back home. A portable MP3 player is also better if you want one for jogging (not that I jog, personally, but so I gather) because they will never skip, and are lighter than Minidisc players (they also use less batteries than minidisk players.) The suitability of an MP3 player for you also depends what format most of your music is stored on, because if its all MP3s, then obviously an MP3 player is more practical, however if your music is mostly on CDs then it is easier to get a minidisk player and copy your CDs onto Minidiscs. But you could also get a Minidisc player that you can record on (although they are quite a lot more expensive) then you can connect it to your computer and create minidisks from your Mp3s using your portable player. That’s most of the advantages and disadvantages of MP3 players over a minidisk player.
Fairly new on the market are MP3 players with huge storage capacity, between 6Gb and 10Gb (that’s a lot of music, about 100 hours for a 6GB player). They have such large capacities because they use a hard drive similar to those in PCs as their storage medium rather than memory card type storage, which is used in the smaller players like mine. They are about the same size as a portable CD player, a bit bulkier perhaps and heavier, and are quite expensive at around £350. This generation of player is obviously better if you want to use it to carry around your entire music collection stored in MP3 format if you are going on holiday for long periods of time, or if you want a semi-portable player to take music to your office, as opposed to carrying a large hi-fi and a collection of CDs. However these titans of the MP3 world have their disadvantages: their weight probably means they are too heavy to lug around all day, if you want music while you are on the move, and the same goes if you are planning on jogging with it.
You may have also heard about the portable CD players that can play CD’s containing music in MP3 format (as opposed to WAV format, where you can only fit 74 minutes of music onto a CD, storing music in MP3 format means you can have hundreds of tracks on one CD. Sounds like a good idea, because you could have your entire music collection on a few CDs with a player the size and weight of a normal CD player (they also play normal audio CDs, so you can still play your purchased albums, and they also play Video CDs if you connect it to your television). It all sounds wonderful, however the technology in these players is still quite young (as is most of the tech. that I have been blabbing about) so it has its disadvantages. With one that I tried out – made by Napa, I put in a CD with about 200 MP3s on it and after much fiddly and frustrating pushings of tiny buttons and a remote control that has to be less than 1m away and in exact line of sight of the receiver on the front, I managed to get some music! The track counter counted up to about 600, which I thought was strange. For some reason it had split every single track into three or more separate tracks, and when it was playing back, it stopped for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed, between each track, which, as you can imagine, is REALLY annoying! It also had a major problem with skipping (although it said on the box that it had a 40second anti-jog memory function), you try and pick the player up and the music stopped, for about 3 seconds as the CD spun up to speed again and found the song (so jogging is out of the question). Another problem is that with so many tracks on a CD, it’s fairly difficult to know where a particular song is, because the player doesn’t display song names, just numbers. I suppose these players will get better and sort out their teething problems, but I suggest steering clear of them for the time being, as I read of similar problems in a review of a different player.
The right player for you depends on how you would use it, what your priorities are and how the majority of your music is currently stored. Personally, I’m happy with my little MP3 player, but some extra memory wouldn’t go amiss, does anybody know anything about large capacity memory cards for MP3 players?