Some tips on buying a portable MP3 player

It started with the creation of the MPEG standard, the one used to squeeze video and movies onto a disc the size of the compact disc (CD). The audio part of the recording was called MPEG-1, Layer 3, later popularly known as MP3. The sound is stereophonic, and most people still find the compressed music data still acceptable. Over time, the MP3 standard, which reduces the size of a song file from typically 50 MB to around 5 MB, became the format of choice for transferring music over the Internet.

Since the MP3 files were on the Internet, they must be on the individual PCs, too. Needless to say, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was the first one to react, because the MP3 standard allowed copyrighted materials to be downloaded freely. A lot of busts have been made involving the illegal swapping of musical works.

But the world keeps on turning. Whether the RIAA likes it or not, the MP3 is becoming more popular each passing week. Easy downloading is just one of the factors driving the popularity. Utilities have also become available to copy and convert a music file from the compact disc into an MP3 format. The process is commonly called "ripping".

Then Diamond Multimedia had an idea. Why not design and sell a portable MP3 player so that people could listen to MP3 music even when they were away from their PCs? Their Rio 300 was among the first portable MP3 players in the industry. It could store one hour of music, and Rio owners could jog while listening to skip- free music.

Today, Rio's me-toos from Creative Labs, Samsung, RCA, Philips, Sony and Iomega have been flooding the market. For a complete list of the latest MP3 hardware, go to www.mp3.com. More and more PDAs also play MP3 files, including Handspring's Visor, Casio's Casiopeia and Compaq's iPaq PocketPC (the first two require an expansion module). Even some cell phones come with a built-in MP3 player. Have you seen Siemens' SL 45?

If you are on the market for a portable MP3 player, what should you look for? First, the larger the storage, the more music you can carry with you. An increasing number of jukeboxes, such as Creative Lab's Nomad Jukebox, use a 6 GB hard disk. That can store up to 100 hours of music.

As with other portable devices, the batteries are very important. Find a model with rechargeable batteries that also allows you to use standard AA alkaline batteries. Keep in mind that the nonrechargeable batteries will not give you a lot of listening time, though.

The portable MP3 players will have to be connected to a PC to enable you to download music from the Internet or to rip music from your collection of CDs. If your PC supports USB, find a model that connects to the PC using this port.

No less important is the software that comes with the player. It has to be easy and intuitive to use, it should also allow you to copy music from the portable device back into the PC and convert the MP3 files back into a wave file. Ideally, you should be able to burn your own compact disc using these wave files, so that you can really have a truly personal CD.

But, make sure that you do not cross the line and steal copyrighted music, though. (Zatni Arbi)