MP3 Players
The widespread popularity of MP3 Players began during the mid-nineties as ever advancing internet technology allowed people from around the world to share music, sometimes illegally, via MPEG-1 Audio Layer files that had the .mp3 extension. The files became more commonly known as MP3 files and are a common way to store, organize, play and transfer audio files.
MP3 Players are what are known as digital audio players. There are now thousands of different makes and models to be found in the market-place the most advanced of which can store music files, photos, video, pictures and text files. Some also have DAB and FM radios built into them.
How things have changed in just ten years! The first MP3 Player to be commercially released was in March 1998 and was manufactured by Korean company called Saehan Information Systems. The 32MG flash storage system was only capable of encoding at 128KB/s and could playback just a few songs. However, MP3 players started being mass produced, and as they became ever more popular, especially in the USA and Europe, other companies started to jump on board. The cost of the device started to drop from an initial $250 as the market became more competitive.
There are a vast range of MP3 players to choose and the choice is largely determined by how much music you want to store on your device or how much you have in your budget. The smallest flash player devices can hold around 10 albums worth of music whilst some hard-drive models can hold your entire music collection!
The battery life of MP3 players varies dependant upon make and model. With some power hungry larger devices you may find the battery lasts for just a few hours whilst some of the more advanced MP3 player batteries can last over 40, and in some cases, up to 60 hours.
If you are looking to buy an MP3 player the best place to compare and choose is usually the internet. There are so many different makes and models available that it can save you lots of time, energy and money to shop from home. The world of MP3 players is a big one – happy shopping!
