MP3 players have become common elements of our daily lives.  Whether you are flying somewhere, sitting next to someone with headphones plugged into an MP3 player, or someone working out to the beat of their favorite music emanating from their MP3 player, these little digital music devices are everywhere!  This write up tells you all that you ever wanted to know about MP3 players…and more!

What is MP3?

MP3 is a highly compressed digital music file format.  If you insert and explore a regular music CD into the drive on your computer you will see that a typical song is about 50 megabytes (MB) in size.  This large file size is because each song track actually consists of numerous digital audio signals which combine to produce the music track.  In reality however, the human ear and brain is not capable of discerning all audio signals.

MP3 technology makes use of a highly-specialized science called “psychoacoustics”.  Experts in this field study the interaction between the human sensory perception and audio signals.  For examples, a low frequency audio signal will mask a high frequency audio signal, and the human brain will only recognize the low frequency signal.  Similarly, if two audio signals of the same frequency but different intensities (loudness) are played simultaneously, the human brain will only recognize the more intense audio signal.  Scientists have been able to reduce this human perception of audio signals to a series of mathematical relationships or models, and MP3 technology uses these models to convert normal digital audio files into MP3 format.

A software program often called a “ripper” receives and analyzes the input digital audio file.  The ripper identifies which audio signals can be perceived by the human brain, and which cannot.  It then proceeds to eliminate the audio signals that cannot be perceived by the brain.  The file is then put through a second compression process, which is similar to files being compressed into zip formats.  The result of this process is a digital file that is one-tenth the size of the original digital audio file.  While there is some reduction in sound quality, especially if played on a sophisticated stereo system, the reduction in quality is quite acceptable when listening to MP3 music on a good pair of headphones or earbuds.

What is an MP3 Player?

An MP3 player is a relatively small electronic device that is capable to playing back digital tracks in MP3 (and possibly a few other) format.  It consists of four major components

· A memory module that is used to store the MP3 files.  Typical MP3 players have a flash memory chip, although players with actual hard drives for storage are also available.

· An electronic circuit that plays the MP3 files

· External headphones or earbuds that connect to the MP3 player, and transmit the MP3 audio file from the player to your ear

· A battery (either built in rechargeable unit or external replaceable) that powers the whole unit.

These principal components are housed in a plastic or metallic casing that protects the components.

How do I choose an MP3 player?

There are literally dozens of MP3 players on the market today.  Each one professes to be able to do just about everything short of sitting up and begging for a bone!  So how do you decide which one to choose?  Here are a few ideas to help you make your decision:

· Audio or Video or Both?  Do you intend to play only audio tracks, or do you also want to play video?  If you need video, you will need to select a MP4 or MP5 player.  But if you only want to listen to music, you can buy an inexpensive MP3 player, instead of the more expensive MP4/5 player.  MP3 players cannot play video files.

· Flash Memory or Hard Disk:  Flash memory modules usually have smaller capacities than hard disks.  Common flash memory capacities on the market today are 4 gigabytes (GB) and 8 GB, which hard disk capacities can range up to 160GB.  A few things to note about units with hard disks – they are typically more expensive than MP3 players with flash memory; they usually consume more power (more frequent recharging or more batteries) than flash memory units; a jolt or bump can cause “skipping”; a hard enough jolt or bump can damage the spindle mechanism of the hard disk.

· Storage Capacity:  Typical music tracks in MP3 format range in size from 4MB to 5MB.  So for every 1GB of storage, you can expect to store between 200 and 250 songs.  Use this as a rough guide to determine the capacity that you are looking for.  The other consideration is market conditions.  Currently, you get the most “bang for your buck” with 4GB units.

· Built-In Battery or External:  MP3 players on the market today can either have a built-in, rechargeable Li-ion batter, or may use an external (usually AAA size) battery as their power source.  MP3 players with built-in batteries are usually much smaller, and do not have the added expense of batteries.  Units that use AAA batteries are typically larger, and also have longer play times.  If you’re flying from LA to NY and your built-in battery runs out of juice at 30,000 ft., there’s not much that you can do!

Budget:  The market can supply you with any model and configuration you need to fit your (reasonable) budget.  So before you start shopping for a MP3 players, figure out how much you want to spend, and then search within your constraints.  It is very easy to lose sight of budget constraints once you look at the bells and whistles available on today’s models!

Brand Name MP3 Players or Generic MP3 Players?

Apple’s iPOD Shuffle is a very popular MP3 player today.  A 2GB Shuffle costs $70.  A high-quality MP3 player with no brand name, costs less than $30!  When you buy a brand name mp3 music player, the price includes the fancy plastic casing, a few more flashing lights and of course a big chunk of the manufacturers marketing expenses. There is a simple rule regarding all electronic gadgets including new MP3 players. The more fancy the device and the more the options, the greater the chance of the device malfunctioning. Cheap mp3 players contain only the features that will be necessary for your listening pleasure.  Inexpensive mp3 players that are of good quality are a good option for almost anyone.  A good pair of headphones can certainly improve the sound quality when using a cheap MP3 player.

Sound Output and Quality

An mp3 player can accept a small pair of external speakers or could be connected to a pair of headphones. Fairly advanced external speaker systems have been developed, such systems include small amplifiers and sound level controls. Headphones too, are available in many brands and qualities. Your mp3 player should include a pair of headphones, you might look at other headphone options if you are interested and your budget permits. The quality of the headphones or external speakers would influence the quality of sound delivered by your mp3 player. When you hear the sound out of an expensive mp3 player, you should know that the speakers or headphones have a major role to play in delivering the high quality sound. Simply put, if you had to shop for a $40 new mp3 player and were willing to pay another $30 to $50 for a pair of fancy headphones, it is very likely that the sound quality from your $40 inexpensive mp3 player would match that of a new mp3 player priced at around $150 to $200.

MP3 Music Sources

There are numerous sources of MP3 music today.  If you plan to convert your library of CDs to MP3 format, then you have several easy options.  You can either buy software to make this conversion, or you can use a free program such as iTunes or Windows Media Player to make the conversion.  There are also numerous LEGAL sources online for MP3 music including online music stores, band websites, and subscription services.  Some independent labels and groups also make their recordings available for free.