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| Comparing the best-selling portable
music players |
| By Amy
Buttell Crane • Bankrate.com |
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With hundreds of different types and models of MP3
players on the market, deciding which one to buy can be tough. New
models and players are introduced frequently. On the flip side,
casualties of the iPod juggernaut are piling up. The manufacturer
of the Rio players packed it in at the beginning of 2006.
Below is a guide to the best-selling players. Each
player profiled offers more than one model, each boasting different
features and prices. Many other players are available at stores
and online. You can buy all of these players at most major big-box
stores, as well as through online retailers such as Amazon.com and
the players' own Web sites.
A couple of brief caveats to the categories listed below:
- Take the listed number of songs and battery life with a grain
of salt, as the manufacturers use the most optimistic number possible.
Real-life use might give you more or fewer songs depending on
how long they are and their format, while battery life is usually
less than advertised.
- Other subscription services such as Wal-Mart are available.
Microsoft and MTV are launching a service later this year.
- Don't take system requirements lightly. If you have an older
PC without the required USB 2.0 ports, some of these players will
not work on your machine.
- Video content: the iPod buries Creative's Zen Vision M, in terms
of content actually available. Apple continues to cut deals with
content companies, while Creative's Zen, as of early February,
has yet to make any deals for TV shows that you can actually watch
on this player.
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| Top-selling MP3 players |
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For information on which digital music service is
best for you, see "Getting
in tune with digital music services."
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