Digital Music: Here, There, and Everywhere

Just Your Size

Portable players come in all shapes and capacities. Here's the best of what's around.

Large-Capacity Players (5GB and up)

Our pick: Rio Karma, 20GB, $300
Apple's IPod is still a great player, but listen to a few reasons why the Rio Karma 20 is better. The Karma is a little thicker than the IPod, but it fits comfortably in a pocket and is almost an inch shorter. Its greatest advantage is the control it gives you over playlists. The Karma's "Rio DJ" feature lets you program a number of dynamic playlists--arrangements like music from any decade or tunes you haven't played in a month--on the fly. While on the go, you can add songs, albums, or artists to a playlist, move or delete tracks, and save the new list. Music syncs to the device quickly using Rio's software and USB 2.0. The included docking station has RCA outputs to connect to your stereo and an ethernet port, so you can listen to music on any networked PC.

Runner-up: Apple IPod 40GB, $399
Sure, it's pricey, but the IPod's the best player you can get if you need more than 20GB of storage. (Mac and Windows)

Noteworthy: Dell DJ 20, $279
A good value with one drawback: With its all-business design, the 20GB DJ looks like the beige box of MP3 players--how boring.

Midcapacity Players (1G to 5GB)

Our pick: Apple IPod Mini, $249
This plucky little portable introduced many of the improvements you'll find on the current IPod. The Mini's scroll wheel is the best available, combining touch scrolling with push-and-click buttons. You can easily find tracks in the familiar IPod navigation interface, and the text on the display is sharp. MP3 or AAC files sound rich and full, and a ton of preset equalizer options lets you tweak the bass and treble to your liking. It's even cute--and available in a color to match your personality. It's a little pricey for 4GB of storage, but we transferred 820 songs over the FireWire connection before maxing out--enough to keep us going for a while. (Mac and Windows)

Runner-up: Rio Nitrus, $170
Rio's Nitrus isn't much bigger than many flash-based models and holds 1.5GB of tunes. An intuitive menu-based interface makes it easy to find what you want, although navigating with the red toggle switch on the unit's face can be a bit awkward.

Noteworthy: Creative Nomad V 4GB, $200
This 4GB player can't compete with the IPod Mini for looks or sound, but unlike the IPod, it can play WMA (Windows Media Audio) tracks and comes with a removable, rechargeable battery.

Ultraportable Players (128MB to 1GB)

Our pick: Rio Chiba, $129
The inexpensive Rio Chiba 128 holds only 128MB, but it has the best combination of sound and size among the ultraportables. You can jog through the park without the music skipping, thanks to the Chiba's lack of movable parts. This curvy player weighs a dainty 1.8 ounces and belts out impressive bass and treble tones. It uses the standard Rio interface--easy to read and easy to navigate, even if its red toggle is a bit awkward. The player can hold a couple of albums at once, depending on what format and bit rate you encode with. (Mac and Windows)

Runner-up: IRiver IFP-890, $180
The 256MB IFP-890 handles OGG as well as MP3 and WMA files, has an FM tuner and recording capability, and sounds great, but it's a bit bulky for this class of portable.

Noteworthy: Creative Nomad MuVo TX FM 256MB, $150
This tiny player holds 256MB, includes an FM tuner, and detaches from its case to become an even smaller USB keychain drive.