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In this article I am going to cover various popular Mp3 players available in the market. Now since I don't own a mp3 player I won't be able to give any personal inputs like I had given in How to Buy Online Shares in India, Best Broadband provider in India and Which Bike to Buy but I have put thorough research into it so I hope it will come out good. In India, the cost of mp3 players varies a lot in terms of quality of the product.

The sole reason of mp3 being so popular format is because of the advantage of portability. You can easily download the MP3 files and share them across with your friends as attachments to email etc. The Digital Audio product manufacturers realized the importance of playing MP3 music on their equipment, resulting in very innovative MP3 players in the market.

Now there are different types of MP3 players in the market and its not possible to cover all of them here but I will try to cover as much as possible.

The mp3 players available are hard drive-based, flash-based, and MP3/CD. The hard-drive MP3 players offer huge storage space, but have movable parts. This makes them idle for people who want to relax and enjoy the music. Apple iPod and iRiver come under hard-drive MP3 player category.

Flash-based MP3 players allow you to enjoy music when you are exercising or having a work out at gym. Many of these MP3 players have inbuilt radio and can support memory cards. Popular flash-based MP3 players are Apple iPod Shuffle, Sony, Philips-Nike, Sony etc.

MP3/CD players are the cheapest and you can burn CDs with MP3 music files and play them. These are generally bulky.

One name that comes to the mind, when we think of music and MP3, is iPod of Apple Computers. This is a revolutionary product, in the sense, it captured the imagination of the people and the market is flooded with iPods of various designs and capacities. One of the best products in the MP3 player segment is Apple iPod with 80 GB capacity costing around US $ 300.

This comes only in Black or white colors. This beautiful model weighs 5.5 ounces and measures 0.6 by 4.1 by 2.4 inches. The screen is 2.5 inches (diagonal). As many people love the click wheel, Apple seems to be not willing to change the same. But features like search and power-scroll make it easy to select a song you want to listen. Probably iPod success can be linked to its ability to interface well with the popular iTunes software. iPod can support many audio formats and you can save images and video clips as well. iPod needs no introduction/recommendation and if you like to own nothing but a branded one, you can not avoid getting tempted to own an iPod.

Microsoft seems to make every thing what Apple has. Be it be windows Operating system or iPod. Though Microsoft offers media players as a software product, they ventured to give a Audio playing hardware to the world. It is Microsoft Zune, which is priced between US $ 175 and US $250. Though it has made some good progress in sales, it could not really grab a big share of iPod. It is interesting to note features like sharing files across Zunes using Wifi. Navigation system has folders and level and is easy to use. If you like Microsoft products, you would like Zune. It has a good styling and is worth buying, if you want to be different.

Another very popular MP3 player with many other features is Archos 704 WiFi Multimedia Player. This costs between US $470 – US $712. This weighs around a pound in weight, measures 7.1 by 5 by 7.8 inches and has a 7-inch touch screen. The head phones are reported to be not of great quality, but you can always find a better one in the market. Some MP3 players do not have the power supply option to charge the MP3 players and they need to be plugged into a laptop or computer to charge the same. However Archos 704 is provided with DC-in jack for the power supply. This model can play a wide ranging audio formats as well as support video formats. The battery is expected to give you uninterrupted playing for 25 hours or 3 – 4 hours of video. Wifi feature is of great help to upload and download file using a laptop or another computer. If you like to watch movies/videos on your MP3 player, this is ideal with a 7 inch screen.

iRiver Clix is another popular MP3 Player which is priced around US $ 119. Apart from music, this player is preloaded with games, puzzles (like Sudoku). This weighs 2.5 ounces and measures 2.7 by 1.8 by 0.6 inches. The display is a 2.2 inch LCD. It has a ‘Smart button’ which can be customized. iRiver Clix MP3 player can be used with an operational cradle. This cradle has a snooze button and built in speakers. A remote is also available with this cradle. This simple to use MP3 player is worth considering if you are looking for a simple MP3 player.

It is fun to listen to music when you exercise or while you work out. Philips-Nike Portable Sports Audio (PSA) is a good MP3 player for the sports lovers with an ear for music. This portable MP3 player weighs 5 pounds and measures 1 x 2.8 x 2.8 inches. You can strap this MP3 player to your arm using a Velcro band. A headband with wires, headphones with sweat resistant ear pieces would not obstruct your work out. This is designed based on pure solid-state technology and has no moving parts. This can hold 125 songs and a FM radio with 10 stations. With skip-free audio, you can enjoy every bit of your workout.

I always feels that Music is a personal choice and so should be your MP3 player. Go to your nearby electronics mall and check all the players as well as consult others too before investing too much money on them.