Portable MP3 Players

Incase you didn't know; a portable mp3 player is a small, handheld size digital audio player. An MP3 file is a piece of data stored digitally which is compressed so that it doesn't take up very much storage space. To the average listener, MP3's sound just as good as CD's, if not better.

Before we get started in understanding portable mp3 players, their size, type and prices, take a look at our advanced search page, where you can specify whats important or not important to you, so that you can get the perfect player to suit your needs.

Size: Storage capacity

Portable mp3 players come in all shapes and sizes, and this page will explain them a little further to help you choose the correct portable mp3 player for you. First of all you have to decide how many songs and how much music you want to store on your player, as this is the primary factor of price.

• Up to 512mb - Approx. 100 songs
• 1gb - 4gb - Approx. 800 songs
• 5gb - 10gb - Approx. 2000 songs
• 15gb - 20gb - Approx. 4,000 songs
• 40gb or more - Approx. 8,000+ songs

Once you've chosen on the size that you want, then its up to you on the actual player you want. Features vary from player to player, and of course so does the price, some come with colour screens, FM radio's, voice recorders and the ability to watch films!

Type of player

As for the type of portable mp3 player, well that half comes down to the size of the player. A flash drive based portable mp3 player are usually quite small, under 1gb is normal for a flash player. Micro drive portable mp3 players continue up from flash players, starting at about 4gb and go up to 10gb or so. Hard drive based portable mp3 players cover the rest of the sizes, smallest being about 10-15gb and going all the way up to 80gb or more. Finally, Media Centres have about the same storage as high-end hard drive based portable mp3 players, but have the ability to watch films, look at pictures, and more, as well as playing songs of course!

Most popular portable mp3 players

Below is our top 4 most popular portable mp3 players, if you'd like to see our top 12 list, please take a look at our most popular mp3 players page.

Creative Zen Nano Flash Drives Prices start at £37.44

iPod Nano Flash Drives Prices start at £6.99

Monolith Premium MX7000 Micro Drives Prices start at £19.99

Monolith II Flash Drives Prices start at £115.55