Choosing an MP3 Player

By: Christine Peppler

The market for MP3 Players can be a confusing one, just as it is for many home and portable electronics. Some of the most important things to consider when shopping for an MP3 player are how you personally wish to use the player, its weight/size, and storage capacity.

Image via Wikipedia

In addition, you will need to become somewhat knowledgeable about file formats and compatibility with your PC.

First, think about the type of device you really want.

Hard drive-based MP3 player:

These offer the most storage; from 10 GB and higher (up to 80GB) allowing you to put huge amounts of music on one device. They also have larger display screens and are easy to use. For these reasons, they are an excellent choice for use when commuting in your car. A hard drive-based MP3 player is larger and heavier however. They have movable parts which can be jarred during motion which makes them a poor choice for use during fitness activities. A hard drive-based MP3 player usually has rechargeable batteries which can be a cost saver but many are not removable and must be replaced after 4 or 5 years. There are also some "micro" hard drive-based players with a capacity that tops out around 12GB. Although smaller/lighter than a regular hard drive-based player their moving parts still make them a poor choice for activity.

Flash-based MP3 players:

A flash-based MP3 player is an excellent choice for use during exercise/activity. They have no moving parts, are extremely compact, and have a 32 MB-8GB capacity. Due to the lack of moving parts their batteries tend to last longer. With all of this convenience however they actually have a much higher per megabyte cost than the hard drive devices.

MP3 CD Players:

These devices can play standard CDs and can store up to 650 MB. They are the least expensive MP3 Player but they are large and can skip when moved thus are not a good choice for use during activity.


Once you have determined which type of MP3 player is best suited to you based on how you wish to use it and how much storage is desire, you will want to consider issues related to downloading music.

What format is used?

MP3 is the most common but some of the others include .aac, .wma, .wav, and atrac. These are all formats used to compress music files so that they can be downloaded quickly and take up less memory. WMA formats for instance, allow the user to store nearly twice as much per megabyte but are a less common file type that MP3. This is important to consider since any particular file type can not be used if your MP3 player does not support it.

Connecting to your computer and downloading:

If you want to download music from your PC a USB 2.0 standard interface is much faster than USB 1.0. A FireWire Port or FireWire PCI card is also fast but only supported on some computers.


Finally, be sure to check for other features such as the following:

The display:

Can you read it? This is important as it allows you to use the functions on the device and provides information you want such as the title, artist and other playlist information.

Other functions and features:

FM radio reception, a remote, a clip to attach to your bag or possibly an armband if you're active, the ability to record music live or from stereo components, voice recording, or advanced playback features. Some flash MP3 players offer a stopwatch function or other fitness related features. Newer MP3 players now offer color screens, photo viewing, and video playback for those who want all the bells and whistles.

There are a large number of MP3 player products on the market, finding the right one requires buyers to carefully consider which functions and features are most desirable for them. Using a simple buying guide can get a shopper thinking in the right direction and simplify the selection process.

Author Bio: The author, Christine Peppler, invites readers to visit homemedias.info for more information about using or buying an MP3 player.

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Music and Art: Bringing Nations Together

Music and art are two methods of communicating that need no translation. Music can evoke the same emotions anywhere in the world, no matter what the language. It is, quite literally, a universal language. Art is, as well, an image can depict the same thing no matter which language you speak.The unique ability of these two creative outlets to cross borders and appeal to all walks of life, as well as cultures, means that it is ideal for uniting nations.

Music Bands: Bridging the Gap

There was a time when all music bands tended to stay in their home country, particularly those who were non-American. The impact of smaller, more alternative bands being able to present their music to the world has been huge! Suddenly, anyone can buy a cd of music from India, Russia, or Japan, without having to even travel to the country and spend much money.

When music bands first began to cross borders, they usually did so with countries similar to their own. A West German band might play in East Germany, for example, or a Canadian band would do a tour in the US or England and vice versa. While still sharing, it was limited. Then came the international tours, where one band would perform in dozens of countries around the world and the music created a link between them all.

Now, you`ll find that singers, musicians and entire music bands are able to perform in nearly any country, no matter their origin. It`s a huge leap forward for a world that was once so full of racism , sexual discrimination, and fear of other cultures. Now, cultures can share between themselves and are the richer for it. Cds, mp3s and other forms of music have spread this multicultural message around the world and people are discovering entirely new genres of music that they never even knew existed, yet hold a powerful message anyway.

Borders are inconsequential when it comes to music. The internet has basically created a potential link between every single country in the world, but with language barriers, there are still issues to be faced when sharing information. That`s why music and anything artistic is so important. Watching a video on YouTube that is set to music, rather than words, conveys the same message to anyone who watches it, no matter where they might live or what language is their mother tongue. Music and art can reach everyone.

Art: Combining with Music

Artistic endeavors such as drawing, painting, sculpting and animation have always been methods of communicating between two people who had no language in common. Museums have known this for a long time and frequently present foreign art in their shows, creating interesting attractions and exposing entire countries to new talent and cultures.

However, while art and music are wonderful on their own, there`s nothing as powerful as the two combined. We`ve seen it time and time again, where art is set to music to create something that is so much more than either of the two parts.

In many cases, the music is what inspired the visual art. Many sculptors listen to music as they work, allowing the creativity of the compositions flow through them and into their sculpture. The same goes for painters, who often have a favorite music band that they listen to when working on a painting. It`s a powerful medium to work with and just listening to it can help artists create more incredible works of art.

Then again, sometimes music and art simply flow together to tell a story, a tale that the world can enjoy without having to understand English, or French, or Russian, because music truly is a universal language and when combined with visual art, it provides a method of conveying your message, whatever it is, to the masses.

How We Use Music and Art

A huge number of people who use the internet use it to view videos. That means the potential for creating a video that is pure art and music and having it seen around the world is huge. People love the combination and when there is no language barrier, that means the video will often be sent to friends and family around the globe, turning it into a viral message that passes over borders without fail.

While the internet has made it very possible to share visual art and music with anyone, there are more mainstream methods, as well. Children`s choirs, for example, are one way that we have enjoyed musical art from other countries. It`s not uncommon for concerts and music videos from many countries to be played on one television channel. Even museums usually incorporate some form of background music into their cultural displays, making them that much more powerful. It`s impossible not to feel something as you gaze at Genghis Khan`s armor in a museum display and hear the same sort of music that he would have heard, or view a Hindu funeral pyre while listening to Indian music. It evokes an emotional response that makes what we are looking at that much more important and real to us.

This isn`t just true of things in a museum. You will find that emotional responses can be garnered even from more abstract images and music. It`s the combination that works to create a new feeling, to pass something from the creator of the piece to the listening viewer.

Whether mainstream or independent, music and visual art have spanned the globe and reached millions of people, bringing nations together under a love of all that is musical and artistic. It`s been a way to blend cultures and expose people to new ones and the combination of music and art has turned our world into a place that is much smaller and much friendlier than ever before in history.

Author: Anatoly Podkopov, Ylotana Project @ www.ylotana.com

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