| Traveling to your office, doing household | | | | automatically download radio-like programs, |
| chores, driving your car, working on the | | | | or TV-like video feeds, and other audio |
| computer, or at any other place, people are | | | | inputs, etc., directly from the net into the |
| hooked on to their MP3 and MP4 music and | | | | device. These could be downloaded and played |
| video players. If you are traveling in an | | | | at the owners` convenience. MP4 players are |
| airplane or a bus you will find over 50% of | | | | even more advanced. They can play audio as |
| the people having small headphones stuck into | | | | well as video files. Apart from the MP3 and |
| their ears. What has made these small | | | | MP4 formats these players have capability to |
| devices enter our lives so quickly that | | | | play WMA/PlaysForSure (from Microsoft), AAC |
| everybody, young or old, is now hooked on to | | | | (from Apple) and ATRAC (from Sony), AVI, ATV, |
| it? MP3 music format, first introduced in | | | | ACT, SMV, MPEG4, MTV, DMV, MPV and AMV, etc. |
| 1993, started the era of compressed internet | | | | Most MP4 players can also open in JPEG and |
| audio format. With the advent of broadband | | | | GIF formats. They play videos in AMV or MTV |
| connectivity people freely uploaded and | | | | formats that are converted easily through |
| downloaded music from the web. This gave rise | | | | conversion software from other popular |
| to pocket MP3 players. There are two types of | | | | formats. These MP4 players also support plain |
| MP3 players or digital audio devices: | | | | text viewer (ASCII format) so that you can |
| flash-based players and digital hard | | | | read e-books. A lot of enhancements like FM |
| drive-based players. Flash-based players hold | | | | radio player, phone books, camera and voice |
| files in the internal memory or external | | | | recorders, video games, etc. are also coming |
| memory cards, and so they can hold up to 8 GB | | | | today to make it a complete digital device. |
| of files. While the hard drive-based players | | | | There are many brands available in the |
| can connect to a hard drive that can hold up | | | | portable audio/video player market but the |
| to 160 GB of audio and video files based on | | | | market leader is Apple iPod. All major brands |
| the hard drive technology. This means that | | | | like Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Olympus, etc., |
| you can store your entire music collection in | | | | have made their own versions of MP3 and MP4 |
| your pocket! MP3 players became very popular | | | | players. These players are available in |
| with the introduction of iPod, a convenient | | | | various shapes, sizes, colors, storage space, |
| MP3 player with long battery life and storage | | | | battery life, and more. If you are looking to |
| space. The best part was that iPod can be | | | | buy an MP3 or MP4 player check for all the |
| connected to your computer and you can | | | | features mentioned above. The most important |
| transfer your music directly from it. You can | | | | attribute is the battery life as these |
| even make play lists, favorite folders, and | | | | portable players are mostly used on the move, |
| arrange your files in many ways according to | | | | so it would be difficult to charge them. iPod |
| your convenience. Being among the pioneers, | | | | boasts the highest battery life among all |
| the iPod brand name has become synonymous | | | | other players. There are a lot of accessories |
| with MP3 or MP4 digital players. MP3 players | | | | that you can purchase along with your MP3 or |
| are so well-liked that people have found many | | | | MP4 player. Though all the brands provide |
| other uses for it. The most popular use is | | | | headphones along with the player, it`s a good |
| for podcasting. Podcasting lets the user | | | | idea to buy the ones that you like. |