MP3 Digital Players

MP3 digital players can now be found in the aisles of nearly every computer electronics, music, and "big box" store. In their first-generation models, most of these players were little more than memory "sticks" with removable storage drives. Consumers who purchased these were lucky to get 128MB of memory, and this was often at the lowest compression ratios.

Nowadays, even most Luddites are familiar with the iPod, Apple's industry-leading take on MP3 digital players. Instead of dishing out hundreds of dollars for three or four hours of continuous play, you can now pick up about 20GB (or "gigs") of space for under 300 dollars or 40 gigs for under 400 dollars. What's more, you get top-flight engineering and design standard, no matter which version of the player you choose.

Features of the Latest MP3 Digital Players

The MP3 digital players hitting store shelves these days barely resemble their predecessors of only two or three years ago. Sure, the basic designs are the same, but the specs, including hard drive space and processing speed, look nothing like those found in the first Diamond Rios, Zen Jukeboxes, and Archos players. The machines also continue to shrink in size and offer better skip protection, making them ideal for working out, walking, and even running.

These leading MP3 digital players now boast upwards of 12 hours of battery power at a stretch, making them perfect for international flights as well. Scroll wheels make finding and selecting tracks much easier, while ID3 tags (and now ID4 tags) allow users to name and alphabetize their songs and other files. The only problem with buying a great MP3 player today is that it may well be obsolete within three or four years, at which point you'll have to buy a new one.