Consumers are met with a daunting range of digital music players. This guide will aim to discuss Mp3 Players and help explain what you ought to be looking for to best suit your needs. We will talk about a couple of the most important considerations you should bear in mind when choosing your next Mp3 Player (storage and file formats) as well as a heads up as to other features you may find useful.

Types of Storage

Flash based and hard-drive storage are the two main types used in modern music players. Flash storage based players are more expensive per unit of storage than hard drive players but are generally smaller and aid better battery life. While it was traditionally the case that flash based players were limited in the amount of storage they could offer, this is changing very quickly. The iPod Touch from Apple for example now comes with 64gb of memory. Hard-drive based players have the capacity for more storage but contain moving parts, leading them to be harder on batteries and less reliable while jogging or similar.

File Formats

Most players are compatible with several different file formats. Different manufactures use different formats as their default and preferred format however. All of Apple's iPods use AAC and Microsoft prefers its own WMA format. It is important to be aware of which formats are supported by the device you are looking to buy. If it isn't compatible with the format of the songs already present on your computer you may either encounter a lengthy reformatting process or not be able to load the files at all.

Additional things to look out for

The more advanced players can have Wi-Fi. This allows for video streaming, gaming, internet radio and communication technology such as Facebook, MSN Messenger and Skype. More modest players may also offer useful features such as a microphone for voice recording or an FM receiver.