MP3: The Definitive Guide

Portable Players

MP3 took its first big step outside the realm of the computer when it entered the portable player market. In fact, the market is heating up so quickly that research firm DataQuest expects to see 155 million portable MP3 units sold to consumers in the year 2000. The devices are quickly becoming as ubiquitous as the portable cassette or CD player.

All of these units are based on the same basic concept as a portable CD or cassette player, but enjoy the advantage of having no moving parts, and therefore not being susceptible to skips caused by bumping or jogging. On the other hand, they have the disadvantage that they must be loaded up with music prior to use, which takes more time and effort than just throwing a few CDs into your backpack.

Note

There are many more portable devices on the market than are listed here, with more coming all the time. As MP3 becomes less of a geek toy and more of a killer app for the general consumer, expect portable players to become as popular as—or more popular than—portable CD and cassette players are now. What you see here is a brief survey of the field at this writing, focusing on features and flexibility. Think of this as a guide to the kind of functionality you should be looking for, not a complete menu of portable choices. Take a look at the Hardware section of MP3.com at http://www.mp3.com/hardware/ for more options.

You’ll also want to give some thought to the type of computer connections offered by the device. Various portable ...