Digital Audio Players: The Essential Buying Guide

Digital audio player technology is very much on the move. Flash memory is getting less expensive and hard disks are getting smaller and more capacious, so today's players give you more for your money than they did just a year ago. But new technologies will make them better still. Be on the lookout for:

Wired Connections. When digital music players were first introduced, USB 1.1 was the only game in town. The Universal Serial Bus makes it easy to attach peripherals, but USB 1.1 is better suited to mice and keyboards than to the demands of a digital audio player. It's a USB 2.0 world now, but many of the lower-end players haven't caught up yet. The difference is between taking several minutes or a couple of seconds to load a CD's worth of music. Apple's iPods run FireWire as well as USB 2.0. These connection options have roughly the same speed for data transfers. Some players even offer Ethernet, so you can share music files on your home LAN.

Wireless Connections. For a truly easy connection to your car's audio system, look for a player with a built-in or easily added FM transmitter. You can leave it on the seat or even in your pocket and it will transmit your tunes to an unused FM station. You can do the same trick at your home, in any room with a radio.

Memory Cards. A number of players, both solid-state and disk-based, have sockets for SD (Secure Digital) cards, but their usefulness is limited because a 256MB card costs $50 to $75, and you may find that music you transfer to the card may not play on your player if the card lacks the proper security keys. Players typically do not transfer SD card contents to their own memory. You're wiser to invest the money in more built-in storage.

Equalization. All but the most rudimentary players have tone controls, usually presets such as bass boost, bass cut, "rock," or "classical." An adjustable equalizer is better for tailoring the tone to your preference or to offset shortcomings of your earphones. Parametric equalization, which allows you to adjust the center point and width of each frequency band, is the most flexible, but is exclusive to the Rio Karma.

Beware gimmicks. A pendant-style player that hangs around your neck may seem like a great idea. But if it bounces around in your more strenuous workouts, it can be an annoyance. A wireless remote for your player? One more thing to lose. But a wired remote can put the controls closer to you when you're on the go. Some even have a window display that duplicates essential information on the main window.

Make sure the player can do the things you need it to do, and that access to the feature makes sense. For example:

If the buttons are small and indistinguishable from one another, you'll have to pull the player out and look at it to do anything.

If the screen is low-contrast with small characters, you may have trouble reading it.

Will you use the device at night? If so, does it have a backlight?

Are there dedicated controls for the things you intend to do most?

Do you want to choose music by artist, album, genre, and so forth? If your answer is yes, then you'll need more advanced file management or ripping software.

While audio quality may be more or less equal among players, the earphones you choose are not. If it doesn't sound good, you may want to upgrade your earphones.

All players with FM radios have station presets, but test the ease of use before you buy.