Want music anywhere any time? An MP3 player or digital media player is the ultimate in portable digital music – it not only holds but offers playback of your MP3, video files, and pictures depending on its feature set.

With the vast availability of digital media content today it makes sense to have an MP3 player with more than just MP3 playback. The latest generation of digital media/MP3 players provide amazing functionality, so much so that the name "MP3 player" can no longer accurately describe what a device can do. "Digital media player" is a more accurate name, but as most are used to the term "MP3 player", we will use the term in place of "digital media player", which is essentially the path of evolution the MP3 player has taken.

Choosing Your Digital Media/MP3 Player

Not all digital media/MP3 players work with all media file types. Determine the media files you use most often and decide what you want your digital media player to handle. These may include AAC, MP3, WAV and WMA audio files; AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-4, XviD, QuickTime, and DivX video files, and JPEG, GIF, TIFF, JPEG2000, BMP and PNG images.

The MP3 player's storage capacity (128MB, 256MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB or more) determines how much content can be stored in the player, and its connectivity (e.g. USB 2.0 port, headphone port and line-in port) allows for more versatility with your computer or other devices. Of course, the design of the digital media/MP3 player, which covers aesthetics/appearance, size and weight, is a crucially important factor to consider as well. For more detailed information, please read our MP3 Player Buying Guide.