I use this section of the book to take a look at specific players and their advantages and drawbacks. I’m taking the time to look at these features and point them out because this can represent a major investment, more than everything in this book except for the Windows XP Media Center Edition computers. It’s important to understand the features you’ll have and the drawbacks you may encounter.
Instead of tackling each player individually, I’m going to address each aspect of the portable audio player and then make recommendations based on the best in each category. That way, you can choose what features are important to you and go from there.
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Hard drive players
Because storage and battery life are key for hard drive portable audio play-ers, I address those concerns first. I cover these issues and some additional features in the list that follows:
Storage space: If you’re trying to pack your entire music collection onto one player, it’s important that you have plenty of room. The size of the files also plays a part — I prefer to have my files encoded at least at 128 kilobits per second (Kbps), and preferably higher. Using lossless codecs, like the varieties pushed by both Apple and Microsoft, can eat up even more disc space. In this case, bigger is better. For that reason, I recom-mend the 20GB or 40GB iPod, the 20GB Dell Digital Jukebox, or the mon-ster size of the 60GB Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra from Creative Labs.
Battery life: Eventually, all rechargeable batteries will die. It’s just the nature of the beast. The question is how much life you get from them in their life spans, and how easy they are to replace when they finally do poop out. The iPod doesn’t get high marks in this category. The battery carries a six- to eight-hour charge, and it’s not as easily replaceable as models you can find in other devices, like cell phones. Therefore, if you’re concerned about being able to play music away from a stable power source for a long time, consider players like the Creative MuVo2 or Dell Jukebox (15- to 16-hour battery life) or the Zen Xtra, which uses a disposable battery that you can easily replace.
Software: Most players require some sort of proprietary software to transfer digital audio between your computer and your portable audio player (as opposed to the simple hard drive function I mentioned ear-lier). The integration of iPod and iTunes, along with the iTunes music store, is seamless. The Windows XP version has overcome earlier bugs and integrated everything into a neat package of ripping, transferring, and buying files. It’s so easy that I may well put myself into debt using the music store. Many users also report good luck with MusicMatch software.
File formats:Not every file you may want to put on your portable player will be of the same format. Converting a file to another file format can also be problematic. If you make an MP3 file out of a WAV file, you’ll probably get an acceptable conversion, because you’re going from a lossless audio format to a lossy compression scheme. However, if you rip files to a Windows Media format from an audio CD that were origi-nally created from MP3 files, you can run into problems.
A losslessaudio format doesn’t lose any data when it’s encoded. A lossy audio format sacrifices some audio data in favor of smaller file sizes — the trick is not to lose so much that it severely affects the sound of the file.
Therefore, you’re going to want a player that can handle a variety of formats. MP3 and WAV formats should be a given, and AAC, Windows Media, and others are helpful add-ons. The iRiver IHP-20 and Rio Karma are favorites in this case. Both can handle the normal selection, while the iRiver also uses ASF and the relatively rare Ogg Vorbis format. The Rio uses Ogg Vorbis and FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). The iPod also comes through by using AAC and Apple Lossless Codecs, which present higher audio quality than normal MP3s.
Transfer speed: Unless the player uses USB 2.0 or FireWire to move songs and files back and forth, you’re going to be sitting around for a long time. Stay away from players that still rely on USB 1.1. The iPod (which can use either format) is a winner in this category.
Ease of use: If you have to press a lot of buttons or scroll through a lot of confusing menus, it’s going to get in the way of listening to your music.
You want simple controls that allow full control of your music with the minimum amount of effort. Every player has some sort of learning curve, but the iPod’s interface has been universally acclaimed as a good, clean way to access and play your music. The iPod also shows up instantly when it’s plugged into your computer for use as an external hard drive, whereas some other players require the use of external software that you must install before transferring files. The Dell Jukebox should also be noted for its effective controls.
Sound: Nothing about the player matters if you don’t like listening to it.
This attribute is a combination of the file formats a player can use (dis-cussed earlier) and the actual hardware that’s built into the player. The iPod has received attention from normal users to audiophile experts for its quality sound. However, note that just about any portable audio player’s sound can be improved by upgrading the quality of the head-phones you use.
Size: Size matters — but in this case, smaller is usually better. While you definitely want a durable player, keeping it compact can make a difference if you’re moving around while listening — and isn’t that what portable is for? The iPods (especially the iPod Mini) are the smallest and lightest in this category. (The Mini is almost the size of flash memory players, with about four times the storage capacity.)
Price: Sometimes, the bottom line receives the most attention. You must be able to afford it. You should know going in that the price range for hard drive portable audio players is $200–$500. The iPods lead the portable audio players in just about every other category except this one. For buyers on a budget, look instead to the Dell Jukebox. You also get the extra feature of a built-in voice recorder.