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Yes, at one time, after the Sony Walkman with cassette tapes but before smartphones and streaming music, MP3 players were a thing.
MP3 players became popular after the Sony Walkman because they offered a way to store and play digital music files that were compressed to reduce their size and preserve their quality, as opposed to the analog Walkman that required cassette tapes. The first MP3 player was released in 1997 by a South Korean company called SaeHan Information System. It was called the MPMan F10 and it had only 32MB of memory. Other companies soon followed with their own versions of MP3 players, but these devices were still expensive, bulky, and limited in storage capacity. The breakthrough came in 2001 when Apple launched the iPod, a sleek and user-friendly device that could store up to 5GB of music on a hard drive. The iPod also came with iTunes software that made it easy to organize and transfer music from CDs or online sources. The iPod quickly became a cultural phenomenon and dominated the market for MP3 players. Then, of course, the iPhone changed everything and soon made stand-alone MP3 players mostly obsolete.
The content below is a flashback to that time.
Bullz-Eye Features
WOWee ONE Slim is the ultimate portable speakerNovember 3, 2011
Perfect for just about any occassion, this portable speaker delivers high-end sound in a small package.
What to think about:
Portable music players have probably gained the most punch for the buck from recent advances in electronics. In the past 20 years, technology has run the gamut from cassette tape walkmans, compact disc walkmans, minidisc players, flash memory players and finally to portable hard drive players.
in the past six months hard drive players have dropped into a price bracket that mere mortals can afford.
When making your purchase decision, here are the things to consider:
Format: Because of the now ultra low cost per megabyte of hard drive players, this would be my suggestion. Even an above average music fan can probably fit all their CDs on 30GB.
Battery Life: All hard drive players that I know of use a proprietary battery. Make sure you check around for battery life, especially if you are going to take your player traveling. Being on a plane when your battery dies is the worst feeling in the world.
Where to get informed:
Portable music players are in a class by themselves. The product is aimed squarely at the masses. What this means is that you can pretty much freely read reviews on the Web and cull from them real and valid opinions. Unfortunately, this is a rare case.
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra 30GB - This is the one I own. As far as I have seen, it is the cheapest 30GB player out there. Mine rocks, but yes, the battery compartment always flips open.
Apple iPod - This was the first and now the best known (and most expensive) product in this category. Like all products that can consistently garner high prices, the Apple iPod is worth the extra cash, if you can swing it.
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