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Pocketful of music: MP3 players come in sizes, prices and storage capacities to fit all
12/20/2001
Portable digital music players can be found in a dizzying array of
packages – from the miniaturized neck pendants of Samsung's Yepp line to
the widely heralded iPod, the pricey, white ice and steel megaplayer just
released by Apple. Music lovers gobbled up more than 1.1 million MP3
players last year as the thrill of carrying around copies of their
favorite tunes rippled across America. This year, the Consumer Electronics
Association has predicted Americans will buy 1.8 million.
As home computer users have become more sophisticated at making, storing
and sharing digital copies of their music collections, the demand for
these devices has become one of the brightest lights in the consumer
electronics constellation.
irock 500
iPod
Maker: Apple
When considering the purchase of a portable player, users can simplify
the choices by considering products based on their storage capacities.
The smallest, cheapest players use built-in memory of limited capacity.
Other players, such as the Sonicblue RioVolt, can play MP3-laden CDs.
But the most innovative stars on the portable music horizon are, like
the iPod, equipped with notebook computer hard drives that can provide
85 hours or more of music.
"While many were disappointed last month when Apple introduced 'just
another MP3 player,' the new iPod is indeed a breakthrough that points
to the direction in which consumer devices are heading," says Webnoize,
a research service.
Hard drives arrive
On the Windows side of home computing, Creative's Nomad Jukebox
introduced a 6GB hard drive last year for about $250. Similar units from
other manufacturers are arriving on the market each month.
A small San Diego company, e.Digital Corp. (www.edig.com), is the most
recent with its palm-size Treo 10. The $249 Treo (pronounced tray-O
) packs a walloping 10GB of hard drive storage, enough to house about 3,000
songs, or 150 hours of near-CD-quality music. That's twice the capacity
of an iPod at a substantially lower price.
The Treo 10's main shortcoming is its weight. At 10 ounces, this unit
will be a little clunky for a runner to carry on long-distance jaunts.
But the company is also selling a lighter hard-drive model, the
4.9-ounce MXP 100, which takes either CompactFlash cards or IBM
removable hard drives (the smallest-capacity 340MB drive goes for about
$300). With no memory, the MXP 100 costs about $150.
The MXP adds a new wrinkle: It accepts voice commands for navigation
through its stored music library. Although this feature works only when
the music is stopped, it is clearly a harbinger of things to come as
manufacturers wrestle with ways to make tune selection easier with such
massive storage capabilities.
The new e.Digital players are available only through the company's
website and are not compatible with Apple home computer systems.
CD-based players
The leading devices in this group include the Sonicblue RioVolt MP3 CD
Player, which now retails for less than $100.
Another type of removable storage is found in MiniDisc players, such as
Sony's MD Walkman MZ-R900DPC ($350). Unlike their brethren, these units
can't display artist and song title information, which many MP3 veterans
regard as a must. Worse, the Sony can only record in real time, meaning
that it takes hours to fill a disc with 160 minutes of tunes.
Small, low-cost and powerful
Experts say the thing to keep in mind is memory. Many have built-in
capacities of 32MB, which may allow storage of only 30 minutes of music.
At the top of this heap is Sonicblue, the maker of the trail-blazing
Rio. The company has built a full line of players around the original
Rio design. Most recently, it has issued the Rio One, a $99 redesign of
its classic original. The Rio One supports multiple audio formats, has a
rugged design, and can be loaded from both PC and Mac computers.
Like its predecessors, the Rio 300 and Rio 500, the Rio One features a
bright LCD and controls that allow easy shuffling, repeating, and
navigating among tracks.
Intel and First Digital International have countered with their own
low-price players that offer intriguing alternatives.
The Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 is a rubber-coated, palm-size
device that features a selection of jazzy-colored faceplates. Priced at
$149, the Intel product offers some of the best fidelity and
amplification of the players. And its 64MB of built-in memory,
expandable with flash cards, is generous. On the downside, the teensy
LCD doesn't display artist names or song titles, and makes it hard to
switch among playing modes.
Another star of the new MP3 player wave is First Digital's irock 500.
For $99, you also get 64MB of memory built into a 2.5-by-2.8-inch
brushed aluminum casing. This futuristic-looking unit is controlled with
buttons and toggles around its side in an intuitive array, making it
easy to select music, even when in motion. The irock is available only
for the PC platform.Personal Audio
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