Whether you’re working out in the gym or running, you will sure love to do it to music, songs and lovely tunes. One of the simplest and most convenient means of carrying the music library, while on a jogging track, or in the gym, is to carry a suitable MP3 player. By suitable, we mean compact, light and loaded with your choicest music collection.

There were times when people used to carry radio sets, CD players and cassette players while running. All of these were either bulky or very awkward to carry. Again, audio quality was inconsistent. However, things changed dramatically with the advent of MP3 players.

In fact, the MP3 player is the most exciting evolution of music formats, which allows people to enjoy their music. Using the MP3 compression system helps to cut down the amount of space required by a song (number of bytes). It still retains sound, which is near CD-quality.

Experts advise to only carry a solid State MP3 player for running purpose. They should ideally hold from 2 hrs to over 300 hrs of music (4Gig to from 128Mb of storage). Since these units have no moving parts, shock movement will not affect them.

To enjoy your personal music collection in your car all you require is the Sony MEX-BT3600U in-car CD tuner. You just need to plug in & play your favourite tunes on your car stereo through your USB digital music player. You can also play music from your compatible phone or MP3 player in wireless mode via Bluetooth. The new Quick-BrowZer interface allows you to search your MP3 music library quickly.

You can even chat hands-free through your car stereo thanks to Bluetooth. There is also a front panel AUX input, which connects with the headphone output of any given personal audio player. The unit utilises Bluetooth A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) producing high stereo quality digital audio streaming over a Bluetooth connection. An indicator on the display of the head unit confirms connection with a nearby Bluetooth device. Bluetooth AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile) lets control of Bluetooth music source functions, such as track pause and skip directly from your car stereo.

The in-dash head unit links in wireless mode to the new models of mobile phones from Sony Ericsson & other cell phone manufacturers, which support Bluetooth connectivity. The Sony MEX-BT3600U in-car CD tuner (with Bluetooth connectivity & USB) will be available from May 2008 throughout Europe.

In the cut-throat world that is the MP3 player industry, it isn’t enough to launch a new player that is just as good as its direct competitor. It always helps to have an edge over all your rivals, and no one seems to know this better than the guys at Creative. After having launched the pebble-esque Zen Stone to take the teeth off the Ipod shuffle, that was almost dominating the 1 GB MP3 market, the company has stretched their “Creative” genius and come out with a potential winner right on target.

Maintaining the sleek and smooth stone like appeal that the Zen Stone had, the Creative team has added a bunch of other features that you don’t find on the Ipod Shuffle; the best of which is a screen. This feather-weight delight also has a stopwatch, FM radio and Voice Recorder thrown in just for fun.

One thing that you can always guarantee from Creative is a super-cool design, and this player is no different. Stylish looks aside, the sturdy build and well made buttons ensure that this player will physically last a long time.

One of this player’s best qualities is that it is a Mass Storage Class Device which means that it can work with any operating system just like a USB Flash Device would. Transferring music is absolutely simple- an uncomplicated drag and drop method. And you can not only store music in it but use it as a normal USB player and store data in it as well.

The playback gives multiple options including repeating single songs, repeating the entire album, playing the whole list from start to end or the shuffle mode. This little player also manages to produce a nice warm sound along with some useful equalizer settings.

The FM radio gives you a whopping 32 preset-storing capacity. The sound recording function is very usable to take quick notes and it records in the .wav format.

Overall, this 2 GB player packs a punch, with great sound, superb features along with a great price to match.

MP3 players are definitely one of the greatest electronic inventions ever made. Every music lover will sure agree to this. They not only let you to build huge and choicest sound file libraries but also carry those files along with you. You can thus tune to your favourite music and songs irrespective of your location and time. Isn’t that amazing?

To add to the excitement and fun of music-listening, newer models are being released for an enhanced user experience. You must be curious to know about the next eagerly awaited MP3 device ready to hit the market in the near future.

Well, going by the buzz, GenMP3 has just reported that the 3rd instalment of the Zune is all set to be released in late 2009.” The news is confirmed according to Microsoft France’s Francois Ruault recent statement in French newspaper GNT.

The 3rd instalment of the Zune is will in all probability be released around the Autumn next year. In the same report in GNT, it has also been mentioned that the Zune Marketplace will hit mobile platforms on the upcoming ‘Windows Mobile 7 OS’. Let’s wait and watch.

Let’s consider the features of Hard Drive based MP3 Players, which are widely used. Also termed Digital Jukeboxes, they can incorporate well up to a 100 gigabyte memory card, which is an awesome size, providing for an abundant amount of storage space. Thus, they can help store as many of your digital files as you wish to.

Other features of Hard Drive based MP3 players are as follows:
• They offer you ample scope to download & store invariably all of your music & other digital files directly into your MP3 player. They will remain safe, and with you for a long time. You can be assured of anytime, anywhere listening & viewing pleasure.
• You can conveniently modify your music collection; you can delete songs, add to the collection or copy over them till the hard drive is full. However, it would need a huge amount of digital files to fill up the hard drive.
• There’s also something called a ‘micro-hard drive’ MP3 player available on the market. It carries a smaller memory capacity, but is lighter than an MP3 player with a larger hard drive.
• Hard-drive based MP3 devices use 1.8” hard disk drive for storing music.

As you would know, there’re many vital aspects to consider when buying an MP3 player. To get the most suitable player, you should first define your tastes and needs. Accordingly, you can make a buying decision. In other words, usage pattern should ideally drive your purchase decision. However, there are some very common things to keep in mind, including Battery Life, Connectivity Options and File Format Support. Let’s know more about them.

Battery Life: This factor is often overlooked. Actually, battery life is a crucial consideration, especially if you are out and on move quite often, with your MP3 player. In such a scenario, you’ve little chance to recharge. Hard disk players generally have lithium-ion rechargeable batteries whereas some flash players provide AAA battery support. A device like a Creative MuVo Micro N200 that uses AAA batteries can be handy since, you can simply pop in a new one instead of finding some electrical socket for recharging once it runs out.

Connectivity Options: The way the player connects to your desktop is also important. The latest models mostly support high-speed USB 2.0 transfers. The better ones, such as the Apple iPod also provide Firewire support.

File Format Support: You’ll most likely be looking to play MP3 songs on your device. However, if you wish to listen to multiple types of music files like OGG Vorbis or WMA, ensure you see it in the player specs.

You will get a wide variety of devices online. Make it a point to compare prices and relevant features of each MP3 player!

Are you planning to buy an MP3 player, but are rather unsure how to pick the best one? There is a wide array of MP3 players on the market, so selecting a good MP3 player from the available models can often be confusing. If you just keep a few basic things in mind, the choice won’t be so difficult!

To begin with, you should know what features you are looking for, when buying one. But then which are the crucial considerations? Let’s try to follow them so that your task of getting an MP3 player of your choice becomes simpler. There are three key aspects of MP3 players that you need to keep in mind. They are size, weight, and storage capacity, of course!

Size & weight: If you are looking to bring your player on trips or on sports activities, a compact design is handy. In such situations, you should opt for a small flash based MP3player or one of those micro hard drive players. As far the weight of your device is concerned, the lighter it is, the better!

Storage capacity: This is also an important factor. If you want to store your whole music library into the device, you probably require a hard drive based player (with at least 10GB of storage). If you only want a few chosen songs to listen to - on the move - a flash based player would suffice. Some players offer expansion slots in the form of CompactFlash or SD cards.

Reincomm recently announced the launch of its M20 prototype, which is well-known as the iriver NV Life.

This peculiar player sports a big, navigation pad of the original NV. The difference is that one gets to see a sleeker, easily portable SatNav device with PMP functionality. Let’s check out its other noteworthy features:

• Reincomm iriver NV Life is available in either 2GB at about $367 or 4GB at about £240.
• This SiRF Star III GPS device dedicates an SD slot to maps and second to augment the onboard flash.
• Reincomm iriver NV Life boasts a WinCE 5.0 version software.
• It includes a FM-transmitter, DMB TV (with GPS PiP support), and a wide selection of codecs synonymous with the iriver name.
• With a display resolution of 800 x 480 pixels spread across 7-inches of glass, this device is on par with the industry but pretty poor when compared to mobile phones which offer the same resolution on 2.8-inch displays.

Famous for its innovative and novel USB products, Thanko Japan has now come out with the Cranking MP3 player.

This lovely 1GB MP3 player is normally charged via USB. In case its battery runs out, start by using the wind up charger. A good half an hour of cranking full charges the battery for nearly 3.2 hours of playback.

Let’s check its other useful features:

•    The cranking MP3 players seem to have been customised for the Japanese population. Targeted towards earthquake prone country, as Japan is known to be, the DAP also carries a LED torch for usage in case of an emergency.
•    It though, lacks a display and has in place basic controls to change tracks and adjust the volume.
•    Thanko Japan’s Cranking MP3 player measures 75 × 45 × 34.5mm.
•    It weighs approximately 88.8g. The MP3 Player- HCHRMP01 is available for approximately (£40).

One more innovation in the mp3 players market is from a famous brand – Onda, that is! This time it is Onda’s VX767 PMP.

This sleek, sizzling and sexy device sports a 4.3-inch widescreen, which displays videos and images at a 480 x 272 hi-definition screen.

Its other exciting features are as follows:

•    Onda’s VX767 PMP can easily support various formats, such as RM, RMVB, FLV, AVI, MOV, ASF, MP4, WMV, 3GP and MPG.
•    The mp3 player also incorporates support for TV out.
•    The built-in FM tuner enables listeners to stay in sync with the latest happenings and their favourite shows.
•    Users can also choose to expand its storage capacity by just inserting a 32GB microSD card if they wish to store more music into the player.

However, nothing has been disclosed about its internal memory and prices as of now.