Portable Players Review

The Good

Convenient way to bring entertainment along anywhere you go; helps prevent boredom during long waits and other parts of your life; improved technology gives you access to a larger number of entertainment options on-the-go

The Bad

Battery life is always an issue since most use rechargeable batteries; need a computer if you’re going to use them; numerous options on the market make choosing a model difficult

The Bottom Line

Despite a few minor drawbacks, portable players are a must-have for people who love entertainment and want to take it with them. Whether you want to bring along family photos or your Klondike solitaire game or thousands of songs, these players are going to be a good investment.

Review

Almost everywhere you go today, you see people enjoying their portable players. They may seem to be enjoying the experience of tuning out the rest of the world but are they worth the investment?

Portable players were once only useful to true audiophiles who needed to have their music library tagging along everywhere they went. Today, the players provide so many different entertainment options in such tiny packages that there’s almost no reason not to choose one. The only question is really which ones to choose.

The debate is really about whether or not to join the majority of consumers and buy one of the Apple portable players. Although these come in a number of styles and price points, they do have some limitations on features.

For example, almost every other MP3 player on the market comes with built-in FM radio tuners. This is not available on any of the iPod models at this time and no plans to include such functionality on future models have been discussed.

Price might also be an issue. Most of the iPod models do cost more than their competitors even for similar sized hard drives and features. Battery life is also sometimes an issue. The battery life for most of the players is shorter than for competing portable players on the market. Do these facts mean you should choose an alternative model for your enjoyment?

That depends on how important those factors are to you. Apple iPods are the dominant portable players for good reason. They do have a reputation for being durable, for being easy to use, and for being fashionable.

Using one of these players also makes it easier to obtain new entertainment files to enjoy. You can go onto iTunes and download games, movies, television shows, podcasts, and music quickly and easily. The downside is the proprietary format does not allow these files to be played on other players.

At the end of the day, portable players are a good choice for most people. Even if you only want to have a source of music to inspire you while you’re jogging, you’ll find players that meet your specific needs. Other music lovers will appreciate the massive hard drives now available on some of these portable players. Either way, choosing one is a wise idea.

Check out my other guide on flash mp3 players and car cd player