Mp3 Mania

After over half-a-decade of their existence, portable Mp3 players have managed to hold on a place where they can be described as more than just small audio players with a good snob-value. With the market of portable music players escalating and a huge contingent of interested customers, more and more companies are diving in with new ideas. The explosion in portable MP3 players has created quite a quandary for the first time buyer and the experienced gadget fan, no longer is it just a matter of buying a brand, now the decision on which player is best for you is more complicated.

Apple is concentrating on providing a sleeker price tag for more capacity: 80GB for $349. The $249 30GB iPod also sets new pricing standards for premium high-capacity MP3 players.

But I would not recommend watching movies on a 2.5 inch screen that Apple offers and there is no fun spending more on a high-capacity device with a memory that is beyond your entire collection of music.

iPod nano with 4GB memory and can store a good number of the tracks that you own but it receives heavy competition from Sansa e280 of Sandisk, which boasts of an 8GB memory and is priced at $249.99. A 6GB zen-neeon player from Creative is available for $299 and has an advantage of being the lightest (weighing only 75gm).

Now why would one invest in an 8GB Sandisk player when iPod offers 30GB at the same price? Well, Sansa e280 has a user replaceable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery with up to 20 hours of battery life. Creative Zen battery is also replaceable and lasts a good about 18 hours. So you can purchase extra batteries if one dies, or swap batteries to keep music playing on long trips, but not with iPod, as its battery is irreplaceable.

Sansa has an edge over others in being the world’s first high capacity Flash-memory player. Digital FM tuner, on-the-fly FM recording, and voice recording are possible with Sansa and Zen but iPod has no such features.

Sansa’s Strong alloy metal back casing provides excellent durability and scratch resistance and the thin body is provided with a 1.8 inch screen. Zen Micro Photo digital audio player/photo viewer enables you to watch slide shows of your favorite digital images on its stunning, high-intensity 1.5-inch screen.

Creative Zen is set apart from other MP3 players in is its ability to change looks easily with Stick-on skins but when it comes to appearance, iPod wins the battle with its striking make-up. With a sleek body and user-friendly click-wheel, iPod is undeniably the most attractive.

An overlooked part of an MP3 player package, sadly the best MP3 players are often saddled with the most inexcusable earphones, take the Ipod for example. You would not want to have a $200 plus of player in your jacket with earphones that sound terrible.

The Creative Zen Aurvana In-Ear Earphones are premium earphones that significantly reduce up to 90% of ambient noise. If the earphones that come with your player fail to satisfy you, I would recommend investing in separate earphones to hit the streets with high fidelity audio and hear music the way it is meant to be heard.

With the Mp3 player market growing bigger, Microsoft could not have resided far behind. It has finally revealed its approach to music and entertainment through the launch its 30 GB Zune. Some music-bloggers who got to play with the Zune have commented on it being heavy and thick. The initial device will have Wi-Fi and use a hard drive to store music and will use wireless connectivity to share music with other Zune devices.

Microsoft's broader vision is to allow people to play and discover music from a variety of devices including computers, phones and the Xbox 360 with the help of a USB cable. The price of Zune is yet to be decided but with features like a large 3 inch screen and wireless sharing of music it is certain to give others a sturdy fight.

Take your time; browse around before you finally settle for the player you want.