Buyers' Guide to MP3 Players

Key Features

Storage: If you want to house your entire music collection on just one device, consider purchasing a hard drive-based player--a 20GB drive holds about 5000 4-minute songs compressed at 128 kilobits per second. Flash memory-based models generally max out at 128MB (that works out to approximately 30 songs at 128 kbps), but their tiny size is a bonus. Look for a model that permits you to add memory through either CompactFlash or SmartMedia cards, which cost about $70 for 128MB. Even if you spring for the expansion media, however, you may quickly outgrow the player. MP3 CD players like the IRiver America IMP-350 SlimX are the size of standard portable CD players, but they use inexpensive CD-R or CD-RW discs (one disc can hold about 10 hours of music, or 150 songs at 128 kbps).

File management: MP3 files include ID3 tags that list the artist, track, album name, genre, and more. Working with this data, a player can organize the files for you. Most hard drive-based players sort files into artist, song title, and genre lists, and can read playlists that you create with software like Musicmatch Jukebox. You obtain song information easily via software enabled to work with an online track-listing database called the Gracenote CDDB Music Recognition Service, or you enter the info manually. Look for an easy-to-read LCD screen that shows the information you frequently use.

Transfer speed/port type: Most players today use the USB 1.1 interface, but downloading one 5GB batch of songs from your PC can take all night. Look later this year for players that employ the much faster USB 2.0 standard. With FireWire (IEEE 1394) you can transfer an entire song in seconds, but few PCs have a FireWire port. (You can add a FireWire PCI card to your PC for as little as $50.)

Software: All players come with software that allows you to download songs to them. Some of the more popular units have drivers you can use within RealOne or Musicmatch Jukebox; this permits you to rip from a CD-ROM and download the resulting MP3 file to your player from the same application. Other players, such as the Pogo RipFlash, come with their own specialized software. And some hard drive-based players appear as a drive within Windows Explorer, so you can drag and drop files into the device.