MP3 Players — Sounding them out...

An MP3 player is the latest dance step in the digital music scene and is teeny only in its physical size. Its impact on the electronics market is huge. What is out there and how do you decide which MP3 player is best for you?

MP3 stands for Moving Pictures Expert Group 1 Audio Layer 3, a digital file format that takes music and compresses it to a tenth of the space it would normally occupy. There are other file formats compatible with MP3 players such as Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC). If your mind is starting to buzz over, just know that searching for the best MP3 player for you can be a complicated journey. Keeping in mind what you would like the MP3 player to do will help you focus on getting the most satisfaction from your player.

Your first major decision is how you are going to listen to your music. Are you a subway commuter and want some tunes to listen to as you prepare for your work day or are you a morning jogger who wants to run accompanied by the Barrys Manilow or White? If you are going to use your MP3 player while you are engaged in physical exercise, the Flash Memory Player is the only consideration you have for quality music. However, the commuter might want more variety and choice for the monotonous ride to work, and pick the hard drive player. Do you need something tiny and inconspicuous or is size irrelevant?

There are four basic categories of MP3 players. This guide will discuss each.