Portable MP3 Players

I absolutely love this device. What I like about it most is simply the fact that I can carry all of my music collection and a couple of movies in my pocket. Another thing that is good is the screen size is acceptable enough to watch movies or podcasts and is very easy to see and read. I also find that the battery life is pretty dang good. Just yesterday I was traveling home from visiting my folks and the last leg of the trip was mine. My Ipod had only a sliver of battery power (down to the thin red line). I spent 5 minutes creating a quick playlist, then plugged it in. I drove for 3 hours and it was still going. I even kept selecting more albums, which turns on the screen and zaps more juice, and it still kept going!!! I was very very amazed. When I first got the Ipod, I was disappointed about the lack of control over the media. You really can't change anything without having it plugged into iTunes. I eventually realized that you can make a playlist on the Ipod (called On the go) by finding a song and holding down the center button until it blinks. Now that I know that, I am much more pleased about it. I paid around $300 for this device with a Bestbuy 4 year protection plan. It really was a lot of money, but I am overall pleased with the price and the device. I live for music so having all that music in my pocket is a must. The precision and quality of the sound it fantastic. The headphones that come with the Ipod are OK, but when I plug my really nice Studio monitor headphones in, it sounds amazing. I have had one of those cheap ass mp3 players that cost like $20, but they really suck. It couldn't compare with the sound quality, the fact that the Ipod has a really nice screen to watch movies on, the amazing battery life and the huge amount of storage. If I were to lose this thing, I would cry for a month straight, especially because I cannot afford to purchase another one. But, eventually, when I had the money again I would run to the store skipping all the way, because for the same price I paid, I can get the 120gb and keep a crap load of tv shows on it too. If you are ever stuck somewhere, like waiting in the doctors office or whatever, this thing will keep you entertained. One more thing, you can but a cable that can hook your ipod directly up to a tv. This comes in handy when you are traveling and you want to watch a family with your friends/family. Just bust this out, plug it in, and you are good to go.

I've had my Apple 80 GB iPod Black for about two years. I'm sure that know a bit about this as they have really become ubiquitous. Just about everyone in the modern world has an iPod these days and you can't blame them, as they are cheaper than ever with the ability to have your entire music library on a single, hand held device. This model has 80 GB, which is enough for most people out there. I use my iPod all over the place, including in my car and walking, and probably couldn't live without it at this point. This version has a clean looking screen and it extremely easy to navigate between screens. Beyond playing music, it has the capabilities to play video and show pictures. Since I got mine refurbished, I got this at a real cheap price, but even if you buy one new, you're getting a great deal. Apple is one of the top innovators in technology like this and the iPod is their signature device. While there are a bunch of different portable mp3 players on the market that will do pretty much the same thing, to me it was worth it to get the iPod because of its compatibility with iTunes and my Apple Mac Book Pro. I also really like the lay out, as it is extremely easy to use and easy to update with my computer. The Apple iPod is no doubt the industries leading portable mp3 player and has achieved that status for a reason. While they can break down, if you treat it right you should be okay and Apple usually has a decent return procedure. This being said, they are mass produced and it is inevitable that some people will have a problem or two with their iPods, it has just become expected. If you are reading this you probably should check out this iPod for yourself!

The ION Audio Tape Express is a Cassette to USB interface. This is one of those devices that will not be useful to everyone but for someone like me who was around when tapes where big, this is a must have. I have hundreds of tapes and I have always looked for an easy way to get them into MP3 format. At first I use to just run the audio out through an interface and record into Edison. But now that this has been created it is very easy to get all of my great tapes from the 80’s and 90’s into digital form to play back in my car or on my iPod. The Tape Express gives you a few different options to get your tapes out in MP3 format, you can choose “normal” “noise reduction” or “chrome for metal tapes”. So once you figure out which one you want it is pretty easy to get tapes into MP3 format. This product even takes batteries so you do not have to have it plugged into a wall jack. This unit is very easy to use, after you have it all set up and ready to convert your music you can also play your music out loud because of the audio output options. You can listen back on your stereo, speaker system or headphones directly from the Audio Tape Express. This is a must have for anyone with a lot of tapes that still wants to enjoy them and get them in the digital format. After I convert majority of my tapes (so far) I am going to store the tapes in my attic just so I don’t have to have them sitting around anymore because they take up a lot of space and all I really wanted was the music anyways. It is great to be able to have of my favorite cassettes that I great up listening too on my ipod now!

Apple's Third Generation iPod was, for most people, their first iPod, and it was the generation of iPods that started it all. My particular model was the 20gb, although I later upgraded it to a different size. Overall, there were 5 different storage sizes of this iPod, including 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40gb models. On the earlier iPods, including this one, Firewire was the primary connection, and you had to charge the iPod over the firewire port. The included cable also had a usb port (in a y-cable like fashion) that you could use with Windows in order to sync the songs. But this was the last model to rely on Firewire, and all newer iPod models would fully support USB in addition to supporting Firewire. What made iPod's revolutionary, and what made then stand out from everybody else, is the capacitive circular control. No one had seen anything quite like it before, and it was very easy, intuitive, and beautiful to use. The main button in the center was also capacitive, as well as the other 4 main buttons on the top of the front (back, menu, forward, play/pause). One problem with the capacitive controls and buttons, though, is that you cannot normally use them while wearing gloves, and you can't control them with pens or other objects. This prevents the buttons from being activate on accident, when the iPod is in your pocket or purse, but it also makes using the iPod during the winter to be a bit of a hassle. The device is relatively small, and definitely portable, considering that there is a hard drive inside of it. And it is very easy to setup using Apple's free music organizing and playing software, iTunes, which in itself is a huge factor to why the iPod has been so successful over the years. Even at ten years old, there is still a demand for these iPods, and that just goes to show, how valuable and popular they have been, and continue to be.

The Sony Walkman SRF-59 is a portable radio device, with a tuner for both AM and FM, a local and distant DX switch, two separate antennas, a convenient belt clip, and much more. It is one of many Walkmans, which were popular portable radios that Sony has been making for quite a while. Nowadays, radios have fallen by the way side, with newer mp3 players and smartphones dominating the portable music market. However, I bought the Sony SRP-59 as a FM receiver, for my in-ear monitoring system for my band. And for that purpose, it seem to work pretty well. There is a power switch on the front, but there is no LED or other light to indicate that the device is on. Good design for saving batteries during use, but certainly, it could be accidentally left on, which would waste batteries pretty fast. Both the frequency tuning and the volume controls are manifested as wheel controls on either side of the device. These wheels are fairly easy to control, and the frequency wheel moves a sliding indicator on the front, which obviously lets you know what the current frequency is at. It's too bad the tuner couldn't be digital, as I usually have a very hard time dialing in the current frequency of my FM transmitter. The number line display here just isn't that good. The Walkman uses a single AA battery, which is convenient and efficient, and lightweight. There is also a DX/Local switch on the side of the unit, which can change the range of the FM antenna range. I notice no difference in either one, and it seems like an unusual feature that I've never had on other radios. The SRP-59 also sports a convenient belt clip, so you can even wear it just like a fancier professional in-ear monitoring system. And that was the goal all along, it seems!

The Coby CX-70 is pocked-sized AM/FM radio that boasts and ultra-slim compact design, dynamic bass boost system, sensitive AM/FM tuner, LED power on and power off indicator, standard 3.5mm or 1/8" headphone jack, convenient neck strap, and it requires two AAA batteries to run. It also comes with a pair of standard earphones. The earphones are pretty cheap and plasticy, but they do work in a pinch. They are particularly uncomfortable, but I find myself still holding onto them, as I always have a need for extra headphones. The Coby CX-70 looks very slick, and it is indeed very small, and slides very easily into a pocked. The controls, however, are very cheap and hard to use. There is a plastic wheel control for both the volume and the tuning, and both are very hard to turn. They sometimes get stuck, and sometimes it's hard to feel if you are turning the knob or not; particularly with the volume knob, since the tuning knob at least has an indicator of the current frequency. The battery compartment on the back is a standard plastic door, and it is easy to change batteries, and the door stays shut. I originally purchased this unit as the receiving end of a FM-based in-ear monitoring system, but I found this radio to be inefficient and noisy. The radio would distort way sooner than other radios and portable radios (such as a Sony Walkman), and it made the vocal monitoring too distorted and noisy to hear clearly. At the price I paid for it (under $10), I am not particularly surprised, but I at least expected to get a clear audio signal, beyond the cheap controls and lack of advanced features. I eventually did settle with a Sony Walkman AM/FM radio, which works way better, but is a bit bulkier, and doesn't fit as well in my pocket. Overall, I would not recommend this radio for much…stick with something a bit more mainstream.

The Apple iPod Shuffle, 2gb version (second generation), is one of the simplest, smallest, and easiest to use music players out there. For a device with no display, is it very easy to use and figure out. It has a master pause/play button, volume up, volume down, fast forward (or skip), fast backwards (or skip backwards), and a master power switch. It also has a switch that triggers shuffle mode; usually you would keep this on. There is also a built-in clip on the back, which has nice spring action to it, and clips easy to just about any article of clothing. I love the simplicity and aesthetics of the design. It is very smooth, no unnecessary edges or bumps. In fact, the clip on the back is neatly designed to look like a semicircle and a triangle, which is very cool. There is also only one external port; the headphones and the charger and the computer connection all function on a special 1/8" port with an extra conductor connection. Very simple and very cool! It does require a special usb adapter dock, which is different than the multi-pin adapter that all other iPods and iPads use. If you already use iTunes, setting up the iPod shuffle is a breeze, simply plug it in, set what playlist to fill the shuffle with (or fill with selections from the entire library), and it will randomly fill the shuffle for you. If you want, you can also turn off the shuffle mode, and set up an ordered song list (usually I would do this to listen to while albums front to back), and the iPod shuffle with play though the song list sequentially. Using the shuffle is a breeze; there is an indicator light that flashes and changes colors, depending on the message it's trying to send, whether that be that it's low battery, it's currently paused, it's turned on, and so forth. Overall, the iPod Shuffle is a great portable listening device, and if you need something simple and portable, this is the one for you.

The new Apple iPod Nano (6th generation) looks and functions quite differently than the previous iPod Nano's, and many people were upset by it. Notably, it is much smaller, and the features have been scaled back (it cannot play video, for example). But I find the new size and shape to be revolutionary, unique, and very cool. I consider it to be like an iPod Shuffle more so than an iPod Nano. In fact, I bought this to replace my iPod Shuffle. The new iPod Nano has two volume buttons, a master on/off button, a headphone port, and a dock port. All of the main controlling is done by the small square touch screen. My version features 8 gb of space. It also includes FM radio, fitness mode, and can view clock faces and podcasts. Notably, one of the reasons I bought this was for the FM radio, and I wanted to use it as a cheap in-ear monitor system receiver. However, there is a 1/2 lag between the fm signal in real time, and when the audio comes through on the iPod Nano. Obviously, this is not a problem when listening to radio, but this latency is unacceptable for monitoring. I was a bit disappointed, and ultimately I used a cheap $10 sony walkman (with analog tuner) as my in ear monitor receiver. Another cool feature is the clock faces, and if you buy a corresponding watchband, you can wear the nano just like a watch! I don't particularly use it for cosmetic or time-keeping reasons, but I do wear it this way when I work out. The fitness mode is also pretty useful. It can keep track of your time, distance (with some calibration), and calories spent, during running or walking workouts. It did take some calibrating with half a dozen runs, in order to get the mileage working correctly, but I am amazing how well it does seem to work without the apparent aid of GPS. Overall, this is a great little device that simply is not part of the Nano line. It is it's own beast, and if you need something like a iPod Shuffle but with a little more space and features, this is the iPod for you.

$200 at Mars music (closeout sale) Purchased to use for mono digitial recording while on travel. It records WAV files at up to 48khz and has a 6GB hard drive (or 20GB is optional). No need to MD or DAT for simple application such as voice recording. Inexpensive, easy to use, and very small. Good digital recording capability for mono. Good construction and quality, but I worry about how the hard drive will hold up. Great little unit for simple digital mono recording. Nevermind that it is an excellent MP3 player and holds hours and hours of songs. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Ipod touch is one of the best music players you can get now adays. The 32gb version is the largest one you can get. Some casual music fans might not need 32 GB but back in the day 32GB was a normal size for music players. Apple has kind of herded people into using smaller capacity music players. The Zune I had before this was 32 GB and I thought that was normal sized. Even the Ipods that came before this you could get in like 60 and 80 GB. Compared to the Zune this has more features. . The Ipod touch has an external speaker which the Zune does not have. The interface of the Ipod is much more customizable than the Zune and this is even more so if you jailbreak your device. The Ipod has built in support for audio books as long as you get them from iTunes. The applications you can get on the Ipod make its usefulness next to unlimited. If you can think of it someone has made an application for it. On current devices you can run two applications at once but before when I had gotten mine you could not do this. You can do it if you jailbreak your device but it is very hard on battery life. One thing I wish the Ipod touch had is a volume jack on the top of the device. On the Zune the volume control is on the top of the device. I carry my mp3 player in the pocket of my pants so with the Ipod having the jack on the bottom of the device I have to keep the device upside down in my pocket. With the Zune I did not have to do this. The Ipod Touch is the best mp3 player you can get today. It is pretty much an Iphone without the phone part. One downside is the price. This Ipod is like 250 dollars. I only payed 200 for my Zune a few years earlier and it was the same size. You can get an iphone for nearly the price of this thing and its a phone too.

The original iPod took the world by storm and helped push the MP3 distribution into an unstoppable monster. The device that helped start it all was the iPod, now renamed the iPod Classic. It has gone through tons of different reiterations, and this is probably the last one. Ever since the third or fourth generation iPod, there has been the special scroll wheel. It feells great and responds nicely, but there has been some issues with it sometimes failing due to dirt getting inside of it after years and years of hard usage. The iPod Classic is known to be storage monster, and this is no exception. The 160 GB can hold more music than most people have. However, you have the issue of the hard drive failing since it’s still a standard disk hard drive. The newer devices on the market are faster and more shock/drop reliable since they’re all flash based. You always have two camps -- you have the one that must have their entire storage synced, so they get a device like this. The others are smart enough to realize they don’t have to sync their entire library to their iPod every single time, so they get away with special playlists and selectivity when it comes to putting music on their device. In case you couldn’t tell by the way this was worded, I’m in the latter group. I have well over 200 GB of music, and if I were to sync the entire library, not only would it take forever over the USB 2.0 connection, but I’d also have to deal with scrolling through all of that every time I want to listen to music. It’s just not really practical. If you’re looking for a new iPod, I recommend trying to get the iPod Touch or the iPhone if you need a phone as well. If you need the extra storage space, I recommend you just rethink the way you sync.

The Ipod Touch pretty much changed the mp3 player industry. Before the Ipod Touch was around mp3 players were pretty simple. They just played music and you might be able to access a music store with them to buy songs. When the Ipod touch came out it had way more features than any other mp3 player had at the time. I will compare the Ipod Touch to the mp3 player I had before it, the Microsoft Zune. The Zune at the time was a pretty advanced mp3 player. It could access the internet but only to synch your player or access the proprietary music store. The Ipod Touch has an internet browser and you can go anywhere with its wifi connection but unlike the Zune you cannot sync your device wirelessly without hacking it. Because of the full internet access the device is much more versatile than the Zune. The Zune I had I paid 200 dollars for and it was 32 gigs. The Ipod Touch I had goes for roughly 200 dollars and only had 16gigs with only about 14 of that usable. The Ipod touch has an external speaker which the Zune does not have. The interface of the Ipod is much more customizable than the Zune and this is even more so if you jailbreak your device. The Ipod has built in support for audio books as long as you get them from iTunes. The applications you can get on the Ipod make its usefulness next to unlimited. If you can think of it someone has made an application for it. On current devices you can run two applications at once but before when I had gotten mine you could not do this. You can do it if you jailbreak your device but it is very hard on battery life. One thing I wish the Ipod touch had is a volume jack on the top of the device. On the Zune the volume control is on the top of the device. I carry my mp3 player in the pocket of my pants so with the Ipod having the jack on the bottom of the device I have to keep the device upside down in my pocket. With the Zune I did not have to do this. The Ipod Touch is the best mp3 player you can get today. It is pretty much an Iphone without the phone part.