Where was all this stuff when I was 15?" muses dedicated MP3 junkie Mike Lazzo.
When he's not scheduling or watching TV 'toons, Lazzo, the programming chief at the Cartoon Network, is downloading music onto his Apple iPod. He calls it the "most liberating" tool he's used.
Small MP3 players have come a long way since 1998, when they were first launched as alternatives to tapes and portable CD players. While earlier models held up to only two hours of music, new units from Apple, Creative Labs, Archos and Rio can hold as many as 4,000 songs. Prices and sizes have shrunk, capacity quadrupled.
Take Creative: Last year, it was selling its Nomad Jukebox with 6 gigabytes of space for $249. It was the size of a large portable CD player. It weighed 15.2 ounces.
Just out now is the $299 (with rebate) 20 GB Nomad Jukebox Zen, weighing 9.5 ounces. The Apple iPod, $399 a year ago for a 5 GB model, is now $299.
Leonard Armato switched to an iPod earlier this year, after suffering through workout tapes that often jammed. The switch "revolutionized my routine," says Armato, 48, of Los Angeles, the commissioner of the Association of Volleyball Professionals. "It's great for workouts because digital music doesn't skip, and my entire music library is strapped to my body."
While Creative boasts that Zen is the "smallest USB and 1394 hard-drive MP3 player," it justifies the claim because iPods work with only 1394, known as FireWire, to transfer songs from the computer. Most PC users employ USB.
The iPod is the smallest hard drive unit around; Apple has access to minuscule hard drives from Toshiba, drives competitors haven't been able to get. The iPod came out last November, with rave reviews for its design, functionality and size. Apple has dominated the MP3 player market this year. The iPod is the No. 1 unit, with a 15% market share, says NPD Intelect.
Because competitors couldn't get smaller, they responded with units that were larger and had more memory. This year, Creative used fewer and smaller buttons, a slim internal battery and tinier and more integrated memory chips to get within an inch of the iPod.
To get music onto the MP3 players, units come with software that converts CDs into MP3 files (known as "ripping"). You then add the MP3s with a few clicks of the mouse, similar to putting a bunch of files onto a homemade CD.
"I used to carry a separate case with 50 or more CDs when I traveled," says Todd Gray, an art professor at California State University-Long Beach. "Now, I just take my Nomad Jukebox with me and enjoy my tunes with no extra luggage. It's a dream."
The small MP3 players with flash memory still sell, and because they're smaller and cheaper, many people prefer them for jogging and cycling. A Rio 800, $299 a year ago, is $160. RCA just introduced the Lyra RD 1080 ($120), its smallest ever, at about 21/2 inches square.
"People always want smaller," says RCA's Mark Redmond. "The only way we could get smaller is to eliminate the display, which we haven't done because we still believe in the consumer being able to view what they're listening to."
Creative did that with finger-size MuVo, the smallest ever, which fits on key chains and weighs 1 ounce. Both the RCA and Creative units fit two hours of MP3s. Some critics have knocked Creative for eliminating the readout screen. Creative President Craig McHugh isn't looking back. "You don't want to look at an LCD while you jog. They want something that fits in the pocket."
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
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