| Music: a part of our everyday lives. Who doesn’t
enjoy music? Whether its Hip Hop, Rap, R&B; whatever
your preferences may be, nothing makes your day better
than popping in that CD or turning on the radio and
hearing your favourite songs.
Technology has progressed so rapidly
that it seems like the sky’s the limit! From records,
to audio tapes, to CDs, and now another addition to
the category of music storage: the mp3 player. The mp3
player provides a practical solution for people who
enjoy having easy accessibility to music. Ideal for
people who like music on the go, the mp3 player is relatively
inexpensive, lightweight, and can hold and a vast amount
of music in a fraction of the space of your palm.
The key things you should look for when
buying an mp3 player are:
1. Price
2. Capacity (in GB’s or # of songs)
3. Battery Life (in hours)
4. Functions (ie. Playback)
Of course one of the first things we
look at when we buy something is the price! Generally
if you are looking for a good mp3 player, then you are
generally looking in the price range of £50-100.
This is relatively subjective, depending on the other
3 features.
  
Capacity is probably the most important aspect buyers
look at when purchasing an mp3. Some of the common mp3
players range from storage capacity of 256 MB to 30
GB, which is about 56 to 6666 songs! For people with
large storage preferences, the Apple Ipod is the most
popular choice of mp3 players. Although the Ipods are
significantly larger than other mp3 players on the market,
they more than make up for it with their 30 GB capacity
(about 6666 songs.)
Another important piece of information to make note
of is the battery life. Most mp3 players use lithium-ion
batteries or standard triple AAA batteries. Triple AAA
batteries usually last the longest, but it also depends
on the mp3 player. With Triple AAA’s, you are usually
looking at an average of 60 hours of battery life. With
lithium ion batteries, you are looking at an average
of 40 hours of battery life. Lithium-ions are, however,
rechargeable, but generally deteriorate over time and
need to be replaced.
Feature wise, you want to have the basic
playback functions such as skipping through your list
of tracks, skipping through the track itself, shuffling,
etc. Some of the newer mp3 players coming out also have
AM/FM tuning. This purely depends on your preferences,
but you will at the very least want to have the features
mentioned above.
Whatever mp3 player you choose to purchase,
make sure to play around with it. Evaluate the product.
The salesman probably does not run through everything.
Take some time to play around with your new purchase.
Make a list of the things you like/dislike about your
new player. In the end, make sure everything you were
originally looking for in the product, is present.
Article by Delvin M
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