Everyone’s seen them around campus, they’re about the size of a makeup compact and they provide hours of entertainment. No, I’m not talking about cell phones or Game Boys. I’m referring to the hottest trend in MP3 players, the Apple iPod.
But is the iPod a good investment for your hard earned cash? Or are there other options out there for college students who are a little low on funds? With so many options out there, it can be a little confusing.
“There are so many [MP3 players], and I have no clue which one to buy – it’s so confusing,” said Ashley Carden, a senior English major who is looking to purchase an MP3 player sometime in the future.
The first thing to decide is what you want your personal media device to do.
Will it be simply for listening to music, or is the ability to hold photos and other digital media an important feature as well?
If you are only looking to play music, there are a lot of options in stores that offer more space for your money.
MP3 players basically come in two types, flash memory-based ones and hard drive-based ones.
Flash-memory based MP3 players are generally the most rugged. They can usually take a pretty hard knock on the ground and keep working because they have no moving parts. Another plus to a flash memory MP3 player, they are the smallest, usually a little bigger than a jumbo pack of gum.
However, flash memory MP3 players are usually not upgradeable, that means that the amount of memory you purchase integrated in the player is what you get.
Another downside is a smaller display area or possibly no display area at all, such as the Apple iPod shuffle. Memory space on players like this usually ranges from 128 megabytes to 1 gigabyte.
Flash memory players are the usually the lowest-priced options in the world of MP3 players. Anyone can pick up a Creative 256MB MuVo flash player at Wal-Mart for only $64.93, according to Wal-Mart.com. This allows for four hours of MP3 play.
The SanDisk 512MB flash player allows for 15 hours of music playback and, according to circuitcity.com, costs $75.59.
Apple’s iPod shuffle runs $99.99 for 512MB, or $129.99 for 1GB, also at Circuit City. The iPod shuffle 1GB allows up to 12 hours of playback. That amounts to around 240 songs depending on the musical style.
Now, if you’re looking to carry a lot more music around, even your whole music collection, investing in a hard drive MP3 player might be a good idea.
Hard drive MP3 players have small hard disks stored in the case of the player. Some hard drive MP3 players do come in sportier, more rugged versions.
For example, the Rio Cali 256MB MP3 player has a rubberized case. The Cali is also expandable, up to 1GB of extra space, and sells for $49.88 on amazon.com.
Expandable memory is a plus, but remember, the memory cards cost extra. To upgrade an MP3 player, provided it is expandable, you simply insert a memory card, similar to the ones used today in digital cameras. The type of memory card depends upon the MP3 player.
There are several choices as far as memory size in a hard drive MP3 player. Choices range from 246MB with an upgradeable memory slot, up to 60 GB.
Creative’s ZenMicro offers 5GB of space, up to 2,500 songs, as well as coming in several different colors, for $179.99 to $189.99 at Circuit City. IRiver also offers several options in the 20GB range which sell for around $280. And Apple sells a 20GB iPod Photo, $262 on amazon.com.
The greatest capacity MP3 player is an iPod 60gb Photo, which is priced at $400. It holds up to 15,000 songs, as well as photos, and features a 2-inch display screen.
Checking out all the options and shopping around is always a good idea. If space is the most important option for you, and not just keeping up with trends or nifty accessories, it might be best to go with another brand of MP3 player besides Apple.
Curtis Gill, sophomore microbiology major, chose more space for his first MP3 player purchase.
“I bought the Rio Karma 20 (GB) because it looked like a real good player,” he said. “It was cheaper than the iPod, and I was happy with it – while it worked.”
Now Gill has a 2GB iPod mini and he said, “I like the iPod better than my Rio, although the Rio was more user friendly, the iPod has cool extra features.”
Those extra features may be why the iPod is so popular, despite its higher selling price.
There are almost 1,000 extra accessories available for Apple’s iPod, among them vinyl skins, protective gloves and docking stations.
The newest iPod nano comes in both 2GB and 4GB capacities. It comes in black or white, with a full color display screen.
It holds photos as well as music, and even plays slideshows. 2gb will cost you $199.99, and 4gb is $249.99, both prices at Circuit City.
All of the MP3 players above, no matter what you decide to purchase, are easily hooked up to your home computer so you can take your music with you – just don’t listen to it in class.

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