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| Music Machines | | By Gareth Branwyn for Screenager Central |
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Let's face it: there's no greater joy in life than strutting down the street -- headphone earbuds sprouting from your head -- listening to your favorite tunes on a portable player. No matter what kind of mood you're in, how much homework you have, or what weirdness your mom's brewing up for dinner, music can smooth out all of life's little bumps. But which portable machine you have can make all the difference, from how well you can hear your tunes, to how long the music will last, to whether you can switch from recorded music to radio after you've listened to Sk8ter Boi for the umpteenth millionth time. There are so many different types of portable digital machines out there, choosing the right one can be intimidating. To narrow down your search, here are a few things you'll want to think about before ponying up for a new player: |
 Formats
Digital music comes in so many flavors these days. The two most common formats are MP3 and WMA. Almost all digital players handle these. But what about your massive CD collection? You can't listen to these CDs on your portable machine unless you transfer all of the music from your collection into the MP3 format and load them into your player, a very time-consuming process.
If you do have lots of CDs you want to listen to, consider getting an MP3/CD hybrid machine. It can play regular CDs and CDs you've created with music that you've downloaded from services like Apple's iTunes site and burned onto a CD-Recordable disc. The MP3/CD hybrid machine seems to be a dying format, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, 'cause you can find brand-new units, such as the discontinued RioVolt SP350, for as little as $50 in some electronics store. If you download most of your tunes from online music stores, you don't need this portable CD capability, which means you can get away with a much smaller, more lightweight player.
 Radio
If you like to listen to the radio as much as recorded music, you should consider a player that has a radio built into it. Several of the MP3/CD hybrids have this feature. Some of Rio's excellent and affordable new portables , such as the Rio S35, have built-in FM radios.
 Connectivity
How you get your music in and out of your player is an important issue. If you like to refresh your playlists a lot, you'll need a quick transfer method. The best technology for this is a hard drive-based player. Plugged into your PC, it shows up on your desktop as a hard drive and you can simply (and quickly) drag and drop large numbers of music files to the player. Unfortunately, machines of this type, such as the Archos Jukebox Studio 20 and the Creative Nomad Jukebox 3, can be high-priced (in the $300 - $400 range).
 A type of portable player that's really catching on these days is the very small USB/Flash Memory-type. These have a USB plug built into them and they attach to any USB port on your computer. They're very popular because they're extremely small (about the size of a pack of gum), lightweight, easy-to-use, and cheap. The downside is that they can't hold many tunes and transferring files can be slow. Units to check out are the Creative Nomad MuVo MX and the Gateway DMP300. Players of this type usually run between $130 and $180.
Storage
Since hard drive-based players can be expensive and Flash-based machines don't usually hold that many tunes, one way of adding music is through plug-in storage cards. Common formats for transfer and storage are SD (SecureDigital), MMC (MultiMedia Card) and CompactFlash (CF). SD and MMC are basically interchangeable and use the same slot. CompactFlash is a separate format altogether. The smaller gum-pack-sized USB players don't usually have room for a card slot, but most other Flash-based players do. If you already have another portable computing device, such as a Pocket PC or PDA, try to get an audio player with the same storage card type. This way, you can transfer files between devices (and you'll only have to buy one type of storage card). Having one or two of these cards will allow you to plug in some new tunes on the fly when you get bored with what's on your player.
Batteries
Obviously, all portables run on battery power. How much juice you get depends on many factors. Players with big LCD displays, lots of software capabilities, and a motor to spin a CD platter, are going to take more juice than more modest machines. When buying a player, pay attention to the manufacturer's battery life ratings, but then don't believe them. They're always an exaggeration, but can at least be used as a relative measure. Some machines come with built-in batteries that you recharge by simply plugging the machine in. The awesome new Rio Nitrus -- a tiny hard drive-based player that can hold up to 375 songs -- has such a battery, a Lithium-Ion that claims up to 16 hours of run time. If your machine doesn't have rechargeables, you should get a cheap battery recharger anyway and use rechargeable batteries in it. They're much kinder to the environment and they'll save you countless frantic (and music-deprived) trips to the corner 7-11.
 The Cadillac of Music Machines
Notice how we almost got through this entire article without mentioning the Apple iPod. We tried; we just couldn't help ourselves. This thing has got to be one of the coolest gadgets on the planet, like some object sent back from the near future. It's tiny (weighing no more than 2 CDs), uses heat-sensitive touch controls, and can hold up to 10,000 songs. That's right: 10,000! As you might image, out of this world form and function comes at a price. The iPods cost up to $500!
Tip: Want a digital music player in your car? No problem. If your car has a cassette deck, all you need to get is a tape adapter (sold at any electronics store). It plugs into your portable player and the adapter cassette goes into the car's tape slot. Turn on your portable, and it will play through the car's sound system. Instant (and cheap) digital audio on the road!
Since we've covered so much ground here, let's recap:
- Got a large CD collection that you want to listen to in addition to downloaded music? Get an MP3/CD hybrid player. They're cheap, too!
- Want to listen to the radio as well as digital audio? Look for a player with a built-in FM tuner.
- Like to listen to lots of different songs each day and have some money to burn? Get a hard drive-based player for maximum storage capacity and quick transfer speeds.
- On a budget and want a really easy-to-use lightweight portable? Get a Flash/USB-based machine.
- Got more money than the Olsen twins and want the best it can buy? Have the butler order you up the latest Apple iPod.
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