Buyers’Guide

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iPods and the Like One Size Doesn’t Fit All Manufacturers continue to unleash even more MP3 players to an increasingly confused public. Not only do these devices differ in features, but the MP3 player you choose dictates where you can buy your digital music

UMA BANSAL panies are on the market as well. MP3 playback has also been incorporated into handheld products like CD play-ers, cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Flash-memory players. For ac-tive persons, a player that uses flash Digital audio players (also

known as MP3 players) are ubiquitous today. These are continually evolving from simple

audio players to complex multimedia devices. Most can show digital pho-tos transferred from your computer, sometimes with accompanying mu-sic. Many can also play movies and music videos downloaded from the Web. Some can even make their own recordings from a TV. Latest models can share their content wirelessly via a Wi-Fi connection.

Among the flurry of models available, Apple’s iPods account for majority of MP3 players sold. Apple’s success rests in part on its creation of a self-contained digital entertainment system. iTunes, its content-management software, works seamlessly—only with iPods. Its online iTunes store offers a large library of online video content, supplementing its dominance over online music sales.

What’s available?There are hundreds of MP3 players to choose from, all with their own advan-tages. Major brands of MP3 players include Apple, Creative Labs, iRiver, Philips, RCA, Samsung, SanDisk, Sony and Toshiba. Brands from smaller com-

memory to store music has distinct advantages over a player that uses a hard disk. Simply put, flash-memory players have no moving parts, mean-ing that you can take them for jogging and your music won’t skip.

Flash-memory players are the smallest and lightest players, often no bigger than a pack of gum, and these typically weigh no more than 85 gm. They tend to have longer audio play-back time than players that use hard-disk storage. Storage capacities may range from 512 MB to 32 GB, or 120

to 8000 songs. Some flash-memory players also have expansion slots to add more memory via card slots on the player.

Common expansion-memory formats include Compact Flash, MultiMedia, Secure Digital and SmartMedia. Sony players may use a MagicGate MemoryStick, a copyright-protected version of Sony’s existing MemoryStick media.

Hard-disk players. Hard-disk MP3 players like Apple iPods are the storage giants of the portable audio world. These can have a storage capacity of as little as 4 GB (about 1000 songs) or they can hold as much as 160 GB (up to 40,000 songs). The limiting factor is usually price. In general,

buy as large a memory as you can afford, but if you only need the space to hold a thou-sand tunes, there is no reason to spend the extra money for Apple iPod Nano

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a 40GB player.CD players with

‘MP3’ compatibil-ity. Flash-memory and hard-disk portable players aren’t the only way to enjoy digital music. Many of today’s portable CD players can play digital music saved on disks but don’t support the cop-yright-protected for-mats from online music stores. Controls and displays are compa-rable to portable MP3 players, and you can group songs on each disk according to art-ist, genre and other categories.

A CD, with its 650 to 800MB storage ca-pacity (about 150 to 200 songs), can hold more than ten hours of MP3-format music at the standard CD-quality setting. You can create MP3 CDs using the proper software and your PC’s CD burner.

Cell phones. An increasing number of phones have built-in MP3 play-ers—some with controls and features that rival standalone players. Some cell-phone providers let subscribers download music over their networks. But songs are pricey. Song capacity is often determined by the size of the external memory card, as well as the phone manufacturer, carrier or music provider.

How to choose?New portable models with more fea-tures and greater capabilities are con-tinually coming up. Decide how much you’re willing to spend. Here are some other considerations before you buy:

Decide between iPod and others. With Apple’s players so ubiquitous, and so similar in many ways, it’s worth considering the advantages and short-comings of iPods before you buy one.

iPods are easy to use, thanks to su-perb integration of the players and the

company’s iTunes software. The iTunes Store offers the larg-est selection of legal digital content on the Web. iPods also have a plethora of accessories to extend their use, from boom boxes and clock radi-os with iPod slots to iPod cases that come in many colours and fabrics.

As for draw-backs, iPods typi-cally cost a little more than non-Ap-ple players with comparable capac-ity. These also lack some of the features and accessories that many other play-ers have, including an FM radio, voice recorder and an AC charger. And iPods have some special limitations, such as

the inability to easily transfer music to any other device. In addition, iPods require you to open iTunes to transfer music into the player; competing de-vices more conveniently let you drag and drop music files without opening music-management software.

Audio formats. MP3 (Moving Pic-tures Expert Group Audio Layer 3) is just one of the many formats that you can play on digital audio players.

MP3 is a digital audio format en-coded on computer from a source such as CD. The files are compressed but retain near-original sound quality.

Most MP3 players can play one or more other compressed audio formats too, such as Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Ogg Vorbis (OGG) and Micro-soft’s Windows Media Audio (WMA). Here’s how these formats differ:

WMA. A Windows Media Audio file is roughly half the size of an MP3 file but offers comparable sound qual-ity. WMA was launched after MP3 became the best-known audio format.

If you want to fit as many songs

Samsung YPK3

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as possible onto your audio player, look for WMA compatibility. A 60GB WMA-compatible MP3 player, such as the Creative Labs Zen Touch, can take up to 30,000 songs in WMA format—or just 15,000 in MP3. The popular Apple iPod doesn’t accept WMA files.

MP3Pro. It has better audio qual-ity than MP3, but hasn’t been widely adopted by manufacturers.

OGG. Ogg Vorbis format has ex-cellent sound quality and is gaining popularity.

AAC. Dolby’s Advanced Audio Coding format is used only in Apple iPods and can be downloaded from Apple’s Internet music store ‘iTunes.’

WAV. It’s uncompressed audio, just as you would hear on a standard CD.

Storage space. An MP3 player with lots of storage space can accommodate your entire CD collection—and prob-ably your friend’s CD collection too. Your player’s capacity depends on its memory type.

As mentioned earlier, Flash mem-ory players have the advantage of no moving parts, so your tunes won’t

jump when you do. The storage ca-pacity is generally modest by today’s standards. You can increase the storage capacity with a removable memory Compact Flash card. Alternatively, in-vest in a Microdrive—a mini hard disk that fits into the Compact Flash slot.

Popular examples of 4GB and 6GB Flash memory audio players include the Creative Labs MuVo2, Apple iPod Mini and Creative Labs Zen Micro. Most are also available in 6GB ver-sions.

MP3 player hard disks are reusable, so you can add or delete songs as often as you like. Most can also be used as portable hard drives. Connect it to your computer and download files (photos, documents, etc) to the player for stor-age or transfer to another computer.

However, a hard-disk player can be more complicated to manage than a flash-memory player. For some, navigating through the menus or di-rectories (folders) of songs might also take longer.

Software. Good bundled software is a great bonus, but don’t panic if

the software CD isn’t listed for sale with the player—most software can be downloaded from manufacturers’ Internet sites.

The software included with MP3 players lets you ‘rip’ and encode songs from other formats, usually CDs. The quality of your recordings depends on the quality of software you use. The best software will let you make your own playlists and create a database of album names, track titles and artists.

Regardless of which player you choose, look for one with upgradable firmware for adding or enhancing player features, as well as accom-modating newer encoding schemes or variations of compression. This is particularly important for models with video playback due to the evolving nature of video formats.

Download choices. Don’t forget that online music copy-protected sources are limited with some models. For example, Sony players work only with one online music store, while iPods are compatible with iTunes and Real. Players that sup-port the copy-protected WMA formats, like those from Creative, Samsung and SanDisk, allow access to the greatest number of online stores, and, because of the competition, cheaper music. An-other WMA-store benefit: BuyMusic, Yahoo! Music and other sites offer songs at a higher bit rate than the standard 128 kbps, which has the potential to sound better.

Some players won’t play music purchased from any online store. Downloading ‘free’ music from such online sources as peer-to-peer Websites is another option. But you risk a copy-right-infringement lawsuit by the mu-sic industry. You’ll also increase your exposure to a host of nasty computer viruses and spyware programs.

Also, note that with most play-ers, you have choices when it comes to software for recording (ripping) music. You can use the software that comes with your computer or player, such as Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Music, Napster or Windows Media Player, or download other freeware or shareware applications. If the program has the software plug-in for your player, you can transfer the music to your player

Transcend’s T.sonic 850 MP3 player

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directly; otherwise you’ll need to use the program that came with your player to perform the transfer.

Battery. Batteries are an important consideration for any portable device. Depending on the player settings, some will run out of power after only five hours of play, while others can play music for more than 50 hours before their batteries give out. Flash-memory players tend to have longer playback times than hard-disk players. Playing videos can run a battery down in a few hours.

Hard-disk MP3 players have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Other types of players use AA or AAA batteries, and some have an internal rechargeable cell.

Also consider charging cords or ex-ternal battery packs for the MP3 player to keep it running while on the road.

Display. When you have loads of songs on your player, you really need an easy way to select your music by artist, album or genre. This is critical if you want to find that one song or artist you really want to hear. A display also comes in handy when you’re looking for your favourite radio station.

Most MP3 players display title and artist information about the song that’s playing. The backlit LCD lets you read in the dark.

Many high-end hard disk players have a colour screen for song info and for viewing your digital photos.

Connection. All new MP3 players use a USB connection for high-speed data transfer to and from your compu-ter. You’ll find older players that use a serial port interface, and this can mean very slow transfer rates.

Computer compatibility. Make sure that the MP3 player you want is compatible with your computer. Nearly all work with PCs, but not all work with Macs. If you use a Mac, go for an Apple iPod.

Physical size. MP3 players come in a variety of sizes. Some are so small that they can hang off a keychain, while others will barely fit in your hand. The smallest players are great for workout routines or even clipping to a shirt la-pel for everyday use. Palm-sized MP3 players with 5 to 8.9cm screens and

weighing less than 142 gm appeal to the greatest number of consumers for enjoying audio and video. Larger MP3 players are fantastic for playing video and enjoying music, but they’re typi-cally much more expensive.

Ergonomics and design. Whichever type of MP3 player you choose, make sure you’ll be comfortable using the device. Look for a display and controls that are easy to read and that can be worked with one hand. Because sizes and shapes vary widely, check to see that the player fits comfortably in your pocket, and that it’s easy to fish out when you need to access controls.

Ensure all the goodies. Many port-able music players can do more than just play music. Some players have a built-in voice recorder, FM recorder, wireless Internet connectivity, stop-watch or even inputs for recording live video directly to the player. Some come with extra accessories like high-quality headphones, a belt clip or an armband. Because most of these features are in-cluded at no additional cost, make sure the device you choose is filled with these fun extras.

Radio. FM radio reception is more common on Flash MP3 players than in the more common hard-drive models. Some even feature FM recording and presets.

Line-in remote. A control area in the middle of the headphone cord is useful for larger hard disk MP3 players that you can keep in a bag. Apple’s iPod and some other players have a clip for attaching the remote to your bag, and the iRiver remote displays song info.

Voice recording. Some MP3 players have a small internal microphone. It’s great for conversations or lectures, but not for high-quality music recording.

Not to forget…A player can have every feature in the world, but if the design doesn’t match your lifestyle, you still won’t enjoy it. You need to look closely at the per-formance; sound quality and battery life can make or break a player, espe-cially if you travel a lot or have the so-called golden ears of an audiophile.

The author is an assistant editor at EFY