The How and What of Portable MP3 Players
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How Portable MP3 Players work
If you've never used a portable mp3 player, you've got to try one. It is one of the more amazing consumer products of the last few years. I won't go into a lot of detail, but at a high level, here is how they do what they do.
Using a computer, you download or create compressed audio files. Compressed means that the digitized audio, which would normally take several megabytes for each minute of audio are shrunk down to much smaller sizes. This compression is important because portable devices have a limited amount of memory. The more you shrink, the less the audio sounds like the original, but with the advent of MP3, and audio file standard, relatively small files still sound very good. And when compressing voice, you can get very small files that still sound fine.
Then, by connecting the mp3 player to your computer, you download the audio files into the portable player. It is stored in the devices memory, typically a small removable memory card. The portable player can then read and play the audio content from its memory, out over headphones, thus letting you leave the computer and take the audio with your.
Using a computer, you download or create compressed audio files. Compressed means that the digitized audio, which would normally take several megabytes for each minute of audio are shrunk down to much smaller sizes. This compression is important because portable devices have a limited amount of memory. The more you shrink, the less the audio sounds like the original, but with the advent of MP3, and audio file standard, relatively small files still sound very good. And when compressing voice, you can get very small files that still sound fine.
Then, by connecting the mp3 player to your computer, you download the audio files into the portable player. It is stored in the devices memory, typically a small removable memory card. The portable player can then read and play the audio content from its memory, out over headphones, thus letting you leave the computer and take the audio with your.
Important Terms
Before shopping for a portable player, there are several terms you should understand to help you in evaluating the different players.
Flash Memory: This is where the audio is stored. Typical sizes range from 32mb to 128mb. 32mb will hold about 30 minutes of music and up to 2 hours of voice depending on encoding bitrates.
Battery Type and Life: AA batteries are most common. It is best to use a player that requires this type of standard battery. Typical life might be something like 14 hours of continuous play on a single battery.
Interface: This specifies how the player connects to your computer. You will typically find either a USB port or Parallel interface.
File Formats: What types of files it can handle. MP3 is a must, WMA (Windows Media) or RM (RealMedia) are also nice but not required. Beware of players like Sony's that may not support MP3 internally but requires file conversion to proprietory format.
Each player will list other specifications and features, but these are the important ones.
Flash Memory: This is where the audio is stored. Typical sizes range from 32mb to 128mb. 32mb will hold about 30 minutes of music and up to 2 hours of voice depending on encoding bitrates.
Battery Type and Life: AA batteries are most common. It is best to use a player that requires this type of standard battery. Typical life might be something like 14 hours of continuous play on a single battery.
Interface: This specifies how the player connects to your computer. You will typically find either a USB port or Parallel interface.
File Formats: What types of files it can handle. MP3 is a must, WMA (Windows Media) or RM (RealMedia) are also nice but not required. Beware of players like Sony's that may not support MP3 internally but requires file conversion to proprietory format.
Each player will list other specifications and features, but these are the important ones.
What to look for
Soon we'll do a detailed wish-list for the perfect MP3 player for portable voice use, but here are some general guidelines:
USB Interface is a must. Some players use a parallel port interface, which means it comes with a cable that plugs in to your printer port. There are 2 problems with these: 1) It is SLOW, much slower downloading files to the player than USB. 2) It isn't always plug and play, meaning you may have to reboot to connect the player, and if you use a printer on your computer, it is a real pain.
Go for at least 64MB of flash memory. This gives you more than enough space to put much of an audio book, or enough audio for both ways of a long commute when using voice files.
Some players have bookmarks or the ability to start back playback at the spot within a file that you stop. This is important for the case where you are in the middle of listening to a long file and and have to stop, so you can pick back up where you left off.
There are a few other features you find on some players that might be nice to have. The Nomad includes both an FM Tuner and ability to do voice recordings with the player for upload to the computer later. We haven't found one with an AM Tuner which would be nice for talk junkies, but we'll keep looking.
USB Interface is a must. Some players use a parallel port interface, which means it comes with a cable that plugs in to your printer port. There are 2 problems with these: 1) It is SLOW, much slower downloading files to the player than USB. 2) It isn't always plug and play, meaning you may have to reboot to connect the player, and if you use a printer on your computer, it is a real pain.
Go for at least 64MB of flash memory. This gives you more than enough space to put much of an audio book, or enough audio for both ways of a long commute when using voice files.
Some players have bookmarks or the ability to start back playback at the spot within a file that you stop. This is important for the case where you are in the middle of listening to a long file and and have to stop, so you can pick back up where you left off.
There are a few other features you find on some players that might be nice to have. The Nomad includes both an FM Tuner and ability to do voice recordings with the player for upload to the computer later. We haven't found one with an AM Tuner which would be nice for talk junkies, but we'll keep looking.
