MPEG this...; Part 2: The player plays you
Jul 31 '01
The Bottom Line Choosing an MP3 player involves thinking... and choices. Lots and lots of choices.
My editorial on MP3 players seems to be a success! But I felt guilty for letting the public down. I never do say what to look for in an MP3 player. So here I am making amends. I'm here to give you MY advice, hah hah! Please see my review 'MPEG this you greedy WAV files!' for details on that.
(Note: This review contains no information on MP3-CD players. Check out the member Yusakugo for some good articles on those choices.)
Three hundred dollars can buy a lot for you. You could buy some good CDs, a shelf system stereo, a CD component system, lots of things. Or you could spend it on a portable MP3 player. OR you could make a poor decision and watch your money drain down the toilet. I thought I made this mistake, and I had a lot of time to think about my other options, what I could have gotten. I think this makes me qualified to write here. So! Here goes nothing!
The basics, the simple, the easy going, the best of the best, the cut of the deck... you get the idea...:
MP3 players come with the standard stuff CD players have, play/pause, skip/search and stop. Find one with a hold switch or button too, MP3 players are most incredibly easy to bump buttons on. Obviously you want one with a standard headphone jack, and here's the biggie; make sure it's good looking.
Let's face sad facts, humans judge things based on physical looks initially. That's just how we are, so we may as well accept it and use it to our benefit. I passed through countless numbers of possibilites for my next MP3 player just because the picture didn't catch my eye as striking. So use that Homo sapien intuition, look at them first, generally speaking, the best looking players are worth a bit more money, in both sense that it costs more, and is much better than others. Just pick a pretty player.
Power:
Tim Taylor said it best, MORE POWER, ar ar ar! Or however you type out that noise. When it comes to portability, your portable power source is one of the most important features, after all, no power means no music, obviously! With MP3 players, you basically have two choices, internal rechargable battery power or standard alkaline type power.
Internal battery
These have obvious advantages, no buying of batteries when the player dies, no lugging around extra batteries, and usually fairly accurate battery meters. The not-so-obvious disadvantages are there though. An internal battery means it is rechargable, yes, but that means you have to recharge it with an outlet for a few hours. As opposed to batteries, when the battery inside dies, you can't do anything until it's recharged instead of simply popping in fresh batteries. The other problem is unless you know what you're doing, rechargable batteries can be finicky and not give consistent powering time.
Alkaline type
Many players run off normal double-A or triple-A batteries. This also has advantages. When those die, you simply pop in new batteries and let the music roll again. These batteries are also slightly lighter than internal ones, but it doesn't make too much of a difference. The disadvantages are there though. batteries cost money, and it costs a lot to replace two double-A batteries every 10-12 hours when your batteries die. This means on long trips you have to carry around spare batteries instead of a simple cord to recharge your player. It's all personal choice, but I would highly suggest investing in a player with an internal rechargeable battery.
One other comment on power. Buy a player with an AC adaptor. Those are fairly standard equipment now, but some players have no AC capability. Those are nice for places like the office, just plug it in to an outlet and don't waste battery power. Also, some people require a DC connection, be careful when looking if you need one, most players do NOT have DC connection capabilities.
Connection:
Your connection type is very important. There are various ways of doing it, but two are quite standard, parallel port and USB. MP3 players play MP3s, MP3s are computer files. This means you need some things; MP3s, a computer, a player, and a way to connect the computer to the player. Parallel port players are still out thee, but rare. Most players run of USB now, do yourself a favor, make sure your computer has USB connectivity, and buy a player with USB. Trust me, parallel port will be dead soon. USB is also five times faster. Ooo!
The display screen:
This is not too important overall, but it can be significant nonetheless. The display screen pretty much only matters to you, you can get a super detailed one that displays song title and artist tabs you tag on the file, volume level, various menus, time elapsed, track number, blah blah. All that fun stuff. Or you can simply get a player with a stupid little pointless screen. Either way, it will not affect playing ability at all, and will affect battery life very minimally.
Storage type:
Perhaps the most difficult decision to make regarding portable MP3 players. Other than price, this is the one that counts. The MP3s played on your player must be stored on some sort of a portable hard drive for retrieval. There are three basic choices here...
Flash cards
These are probably the most convenient, most useful ways of storing portable data. Flash cards hold a good amount of data in a small and sturdy package that can be removed from the player. The data is stored completely digitally, which means no moving parts. No moving parts means no skipping, there are 100% skip free. SO!? What's the disadvantage? I'm going to assume you know all about megabytes and kilobytes, because if you don't, an MP3 player is not for you until you learn. Flash cards cost over a dollar per megabyte. So, who wants a 128 MB Flash card for one hundred and fifty dollars? Anybody? Uh huh... I rest my case, Your Honor.
Internal memory
These work basically the same way as Flash cards, but obviously they are internally stored, and can't be removed. These are nice because you never have to worry about losing the individual cards. The problem; not expandable. Actually, that's a lie, most players with internal memory can also hold a Flash card for more storage space. But that means you have to by one...
Floppy-like disks
These are the best in my opinion. They're cheap, small, cheap, durable, cheap, they hold somewhat large amounts of data, they're cheap, they're very versatile, and somebody once said they were pretty cheap. These are for the listener who wants hours of music. You can expand the space all you want at a good price. The only problem is these involve moving parts. Parts are vulnerable to breaking off and it also means the player is capable of skipping like a CD. Most players are so tight and rugged you will NEVER skip at all unless the player is dropped or hurled at a wall. I like this option the best by far.
Sound:
People have a misconception, MP3 players themselves have very little control in how the sound quality from the files comes out like. Every player I've seen has a fairly normal frequency response and signal to noise ratio, both of those basically mean how the sound comes out through headphones, how the bass is, the treble, etc. The song quality itself is set by the bitrate YOU set your MP3s at. See my review 'MPEG this you greedy WAV files!' for details if you don't understand. It is unfair to blame MP3 players for bad sound when people are setting their MP3s at 64 kb/s quality. That quality level won't sound good anywhere!
All in all, sound quality is mainly judged by the MP3 quality level, all you need to do is look for a respectful brand of electronics like Sony, RCA, Intel, you get the idea. Any player from somebody well known will do. Rio is definitely the brand to buy though, they are well known for their MP3 players and nothing else, so don't be scared off by the Rio brand.
Extra features:
You always want some cool stuff to go with your new toy. Just more toys! MP3 players are stocked, they're filled with all kinda of fun little things. Here's the stuff you pretty much NEED to insist be included with your player:
~AC adaptor (ALWAYS included with internal battery players)
~At least one memory disk/card (unless internal memory)
~Computer software for managing/creating/uploading music files
~Tutorial booklet (it will come in handy)
~Connection tool, a cable of some sort
And then there's stuff some decent companies throw in for your personal pleasure, you don't need this stuff, but it's very helpful when it's included.
~Carrying case for player and/or disks
~Batteries (if Alkaline based, internal battery is obviously already included in player)
~Headphones
~Car cassette adaptor
~Cigarette light adaptor
Again, those pieces of equipment are not always included, but helpful and generous.
Player features:
Some players have unique features that make them a little more expensive, but usually worthwhile. These can include voice recording capabilities, FM and/or AM radio, menu interface for options, upgradable firmware, multiple file format compatibility, equalizer settings or custom equalizer, a backlight for the screen, and custom user interface. Having any or all of these features can greatly increase the price of a player, but it's usefulness also increases. Consider price versus options. Which brings me to my next and last note...
Price
The biggest factor to most people. Once you have selected what you want from your MP3 player, consider price. A standard run of the mill 32MB player can be as low as 75 dollars. A top notch player with 384 MB internal memory (just released, Rio 800) can cost as much as 600 dollars. My advice is to go nowhere over 400 for a player. This technology will be obsolete soon enough, and something bigger and better will be along. However, no matter how much you spend, make sure the firmware for the player is upgradable. This basically means the player can be changed in the future to support new files, better system management, and other such fixes. This will ensure your player will not be outdated as soon as you open the box.
I hope my little guide has been helpful to you. I feel it was my duty to help, hehe. After all, I could've killed for somebody to hold my hand while I selected my MP3 player, it's a tough decision.
Make wise decisions, but be aware, this technology will be obsolete soon, so don't be disappointed when your player is simply not good enough anymore. Happy hunting, if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me, the address is in my member profile. And if you're scared, I can't do it in person, but I'll hold your hand if you need!
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Epinions.com ID:
Biggs219
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Member: Brian
Location: St. Paul, MN
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 33 members
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