MP3 players have, for the most part, replaced the Walkman, Discman and the Mini Disc player. Apple's iPod is an extremely popular type of MP3 player. Structurally they can be divided into three major groups, which differ mainly by the storage medium used. With flash memory they are particularly well suited for travelling and sporting activities. There are no mechanical components that could be affected by shocks. Flash memory is also significantly lighter compared to other storage media such as hard drives in the same capacity, and it consumes less power. The disadvantage is the high production cost, which is why these MP3 players have rarely more than 16 gigabytes of memory - although in exceptional cases, there are already devices with up to 80 gigabytes. A variant of this is the MP3 player with removable flash memory, such as Smart Media cards or SD cards. Their advantage is that the user can listen to a completely different library by simply changing the memory card. In addition, transfer to other devices such as mobile phones is made easier. But despite the undeniable advantages of the flash player, MP3 players with internal hard drives are still very popular. They are heavier as a rule, and also larger, but they generally have an enormous storage capacities that can currently be up to 160 gigabytes. However disadvantages include high battery consumption and the possibility of shock sensitivity, which, depending on the model, can lead to skipping. Contrary to what the name implies, almost all MP3 players are capable of reading other music formats such as AAC, WAV, AIFF, WMA or FLAC. In addition, some MiniDisc and CD players can also play MP3 sound files.
Trends and Developments
Flash players with removable media have experienced a growth in popularity because they make it quite easy to transfer your favourite songs to another device, such as a mobile phone with music functionality. By using special, usually inexpensive, card readers you can also easily exchange music and other data, such as videos and images, with your PC or laptop. The disadvantage of memory cards is that they still have somewhat limited storage capacity. Some formats such as Memory Stick or Compact Flash do offer 8 or 16 gigabytes of storage space available, but the majority of cards on offer are 1 to 4 GB in capacity. The popular SD memory card format has now advanced to its second generation, offering higher capacities. These cards are referred to as SDHC memory card (SD 2.0), and currently provide up to 32 gigabytes of space. The disadvantage is, however, that some older MP3 players are not able to read this new format. So if you want to use the SD format, you should confirm when buying an MP3 player that it supports SD as well as SDHC cards.
An alternative version of flash music player is the MP3 USB stick. These devices use the basic principle of a USB stick, which is simply a flash memory device, to store music files and allow playback independently or via a PC or laptop. The user can plug these MP3 players directly into a computer and, similarly to an external hard drive, play music through the computer directly from the USB stick, or exchange music with the computer. Because of the particular simplicity of this method, MP3 USB sticks have experienced great success. Now these players are being gradually replaced by a new generation of MP3 players that use Bluetooth or infrared functionality to exchange music with PCs, mobile phones or any other appropriate Bluetooth enabled device.
MP3 players are, of course, no longer limited to the mere music playback. The development of these devices is increasingly moving in the direction of multi-functional media players, often referred to as PMPs (Personal Media Players). The first step in this direction was the move away from extremely simple displays on the initial devices, which could only show the track name, or sometimes only the track number and the storage capacity. Now, however, almost all MP3 players are able to read the ID3 tags completely, and can display more information in a clearer format. Many of the current higher-quality MP3 players possess sophisticated colour screens that can display photos and video to a high standard. The screen technology is increasingly moving from LCD to OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) since OLED displays offer an excellent side viewing angle (up to 170 degrees), are flatter, and require less energy. Accordingly, by providing modern MP3 players with more and more extra features like slide show, video player, organiser applications and even the ability to work with incompatible files that cannot necessarily be displayed, but can be stored and managed, thus making the MP3 player a hub for mobile data.
iPod hype
This plays a special role for the Apple iPod. As the world's most popular MP3 player, the iPod has paved the road for many improvements in the mobile music player market. Since the fifth generation of iPods it has been possible to display videos and even install games from the iTunes Store (after a firmware update to version 1.2 or above). In this way, the iPod, which also features extras such as address book, calendar and radio operation, has become the ultimate multimedia monster, and continues to experience uninterrupted hype. This also applies to the very popular, yet somewhat restricted, micro and nano models. In the case of the iPod shuffle, buyers should check very carefully what functionality the coveted device really offers. The iPod nano and shuffle actually offer little value compared to other significantly smaller flash players in the competition, while the original iPod, thanks to the large hard drive is not exactly a featherweight at 170 to 190g. In order to reach a wider audience, Apple launched its own mobile phone onto the market, namely the iPhone, which includes a fully-fledged iPod player. This seems to have been an extremely smart move by Apple, based on sales figures and its massive popularity. Since its inception several newer generations have been released with ever increasing memory capacities and functionality.
However, despite the positives with regard to the the iPod concept, there are some clear disadvantages. The manufacturer does not offer users the option to replace the battery when required. This is because the replacement of a used battery is not possible without technical skills. In the case of the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle, a solder is required: a good enough reason why most users will have no viable solution. Therefore the life of the equipment is, for most users, very limited. In addition, although the iPod is technically suitable for playing different formats, the unit is however limited in practice, primarily to the playback of MP3 and AAC files. This is a clear limitation in comparison to many other players, since many online shops offer their tracks in Windows Media Player format, which these must first be converted to a MP3 files in order to be played on iPods.
