At one time all we wanted to do was listen to The Pixies at high volume on the bus or the Tube, lost in a world of guitar fuzz. But today’s MP3 Players offer so much more than tinnitus...


Do I need more than music?


Music players that don’t just play music? Why would you want that? Let our resident gadget guru explain why there is more to today’s MP3 players than enjoying Steps’ Greatest Hits


It’s not enough for a high-end media player to just play music anymore. People demand extras, whether it’s wireless streaming, online features or a boatload of apps and games. If you want the latter, there’s only one real choice – Apple’s iPod Touch – but if games aren’t your top priority,


there are plenty of worthy rivals. Maybe you want something that’ll play music for most of a week without running out of battery, or a player that will split your tracks up into different moods – so you never need to make a playlist again. It’s not all about music on the media front either. Many


Key features It’s not just all about the music, man... as you’ll rapidly have gathered. Consider these...


BATTERY LIFE Cheap players tend to offer around 8-10 hours of music playback off a charge. Spend a little more and you can snag yourself one that’ll last for up to 60 hours. Impressive stuff.


SCREEN SIZE If you want a touchscreen player, a big display is a must. 2.8in or bigger is our recommendation. Screens larger than 3.5 start to compromise portability, though. For non-touch devices, small screens are fi ne.


VIDEO Big-screen media players often double as video jukeboxes. 3in or larger screens are optimal. If you want to watch vids downloaded off the net, look for DivX, Xvid and MKV support, or you’ll have to convert videos.


STORAGE CAPACITY If you’re happy to regularly trim your mobile music library, a 4/8/16/32GB solid state player should do the trick. To carry a complete collection of hundreds of albums, a hard drive player is the way.


WI-FI A handful of top-end media players offer Wi-Fi internet connectivity, enabling advanced features like internet radio, app stores, music streaming and podcast downloads. If you want more than music, you want Wi-Fi.


THE TESTER An early digital audio convert, Andrew Williams bought one of the very fi rst hard drive MP3 players more than 10 years ago. Since then, he’s been a bit obsessed by all things audio, investing in more hi-fi equipment and headphones than anyone could ever really need. Writing professionally on audio for more than three years, he’s had a chance to go ears-on with some of the best setups money can buy.


portable players are also geared-up to play video. Some can handle HD videos better than top-end tablets – a small screen doesn’t rule-out video playback. For the audio purist, there are devices that only care about sound quality, capable of powering the most demanding headphones.


MP3 PLAYERS


When testing MP3 players we consider audio quality fi rst and foremost, using a range of headphones to subject them to usage in the most challenging of conditions. This includes drowning out the hustle and bustle of rush hour commuting, listening out carefully for any ‘bleed’ that might annoy our fellow passengers. As well as audio quality we


also examine how easy each of the devices are to use and how good their non audio extras are. Are these just meaningless bits of spec to place on the box or useful features actually worth having that add to the whole immersive experience provided by the device? Ultimately we’ll be asking the question: is this an MP3 player we want to play with?


TURN THE PAGE TO READ OUR CHOICE OF THE BEST MP3 PLAYERS AVAILABLE TODAY... 92 www.trustedreviews.com


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