Buying Guide for MP3 Players Various Audio Formats MP3 :Moving Pictures Expert Group Audio Layer 3 is one of the many formats you can play on digital audio players. MP3 is a digital compressed audio format encoded on computer from a source such as CD. Although these files are compressed they retain near-original sound quality.
Most MP3 players can play one or more other compressed audio formats too, such as AAC, OGG and Microsoft's WMA. Here's a quick look at how the formats differ from each other MP3Pro: Better audio quality than MP3, but hasn't been widely adopted by manufacturers. WMA: A WMA - Windows Media Audio file format is nearly half the size of a MP3 file but offers comparable good sound quality. WMA was launched after MP3 had become the best-known audio format. If you want to fit as many songs as possible onto your audio player, look for WMA compatibility OGG: Ogg Vorbis format has excellent sound quality and is now gaining popularity among digital audio player manufacturers. AAC: Dolby's Advanced Audio Coding format, so far only used in Apple iPods Storage Space
MP3 players have good storage capacity and we can store audio files according to their memory capacity. The following are some of the standard memory units used by most of the players. Flash memory: Early MP3 players had about 32MB of Flash memory, enough to store seven or eight songs in MP3 format. Now, Flash memory players come with higher capacities. They have the advantage of no moving parts, so your tunes won't jump if you do. Storage capacity is generally modest by today's standards - usually 4GB (4,000MB) or 6GB, enough for about 1,000 and 1,500 songs in MP3 format.
You can increase storage capacity with a removable memory Compact Flash card – CF Card. Alternatively, invest in a Micro drive, a mini hard disk that fits into the Compact Flash slot.
Hard disk: Mini Hard disks have greater storage space, 30 to 50 times larger memory space than the Flash memory.
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 play-lists and create a database of album names, track titles and artists. Display
Most MP3 players display title and artist information about the song that's playing. Most have a backlit LCD for reading in the dark. Many high-end hard disk players have a colour TFT LCD screen for song info and for viewing your digital photos.
Battery
Hard disk MP3 players have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which typically last up to four years, though this varies from make to make. Other types of player use AA or AAA batteries, and some have an internal rechargeable cell.
Connection
All new MP3 players use a USB connection for data high-speed data transfer to and from your computer. You'll find older players listed on eBay that use a serial port interface, and this can mean very slow transfer rates. If in doubt, click "Ask Seller a Question".
Computer Compatibility
Most MP3 players use the USB port of the PC to download songs from the PC. They use USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 versions. Most of the recent MP3 Players have USB 2.0. Optional 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. Remote control: 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. Some players come with a infra-red card remote control Voice record: Some MP3 players have a small internal microphone - great for conversations or lectures, but not for high-quality music recording. These can be used as dicta-phones. The analog voice is compressed in any of the audio compression formats and stored in the player | 
