Personal Technology

MP3 players with attitude

Every few years or so there comes along a ‘killer application’ that catches everyone’s fancy. For instance, we’ve seen the viral effect of Instant Messaging and SMS. While people like to communicate, many also love to listen to music. Remember your custom-made CD full of your favourite songs—especially those rare numbers no longer available in music shops. That’s one factor driving the MP3 craze. It is actually the Internet and song-swapping services that have made MP3 another killer app. After downloading all those songs wouldn’t you like it if you could also listen to them while travelling, or exercising. Let’s take a look at hardware MP3 players and related trends.

There are three types of hardware MP3 players: The solid-state devices with flash memory chips, hard disk based players, and CD players (with CD-R/CD-RW) capability.

While IDC recently reported that the worldwide market for MP3 players is expected to grow to $44 billion by 2007 from $11.8 billion in 2002—an annual growth rate of 30 percent—in India, portable MP3 players have yet to catch on. Price limits such devices to a niche (high-end) market. But what’s really selling well are home audio music systems that play MP3 encoded disks (CD-R/CD-RW), and VCD or DVD players with the same capability.

However, portable MP3 players will become more affordable over time. The technology and storage capacity of these devices have made them a hit, especially with the youth.

I checked out the range of MP3 players from Creative and Philips-Nike. Here’s an account of innovation that caught my interest.

Philips-Nike

The recently launched Philips-Nike Portable Sports Audio (PSA) range is designed for not just portability but also for movement. PSA is positioned at athletes, sports enthusiasts and youngsters.

These MP3 players are truly wearable and are designed so that there is minimal hindrance to body movement. You can mount these MP3 players on Velcro bands and strap them to your arm, for your daily workout at the gym. The ultra-lightweight headband and wire are designed to curve elegantly behind the neck (Philips calls this Smart Wire Management). The headphones have earpieces made of sweat resistant material. And you can’t press the buttons accidentally, for there aren’t any. Actually the players have a rubber pad with membrane touch buttons.

The CD-based model (ACT 400) won’t skip a beat because it has the electronic skip-free feature. You can go jogging in the rain with this device if you like, because of their splash proof casing. No, I didn’t dare test it out in the pool.

The PSA series supports both MP3 and WMA formats. WMA offers a better compression factor and the size of the file is halved (compared to MP3). This means you can store twice the number of songs (as MP3) in the player.

Other features that got my attention were long battery life, USB interface (for transferring files from the PC), and the built-in equaliser presets.

While this isn’t the first time Philips is launching MP3 players in India—it had previously launched the trendy Rush—the company is hoping that the Nike branding will ensure success for its portable MP3 players this time.

Creative’s NOMAD series

My next stop was the Creative retail outlet. Creative’s NOMAD series of portable MP3 players is aimed at music enthusiasts—those who love music but don’t get enough time to listen to it at home (or in the office). So the focus here is on mobility and high-quality sound, packaged in sleek trendy units.

Available in 64 MB and 128 MB versions, the little MuVo is about the size of a pack of chewing gum sticks. Uncap this impressive flash memory device (like a pen) and you’ll see the USB interface that plugs directly to the USB port behind the PC (no cables required). What’s more, if you use Windows 2000/ME/XP there is no need to load any software drivers.

Creative also has another lightweight player—the Digital MP3 Player 2. This trendy player is so light and small it can be hung around the neck. It comes with 64 MB memory that can be doubled—the device has an expansion slot for MMC cards. Despite its size, the player has a built-in equaliser to boost low or high frequencies and supports both MP3 and WMA formats.

The Creative technician carefully handed me a more expensive hard disk-based device—the NOMAD Juke-box Zen. This device is in the same league as the Apple iPod—it has a large hard disk (10 or 20 GB), LCD display, menu system with scroll functions and other high-end features.

Now let’s take a look at the trends associated with MP3 players and find out which features are making these players so appealing.

Trends

• There is more focus on the ‘wearability’ and portability of players. For instance there are lightweight players that can be hung around the neck (e.g. Creative MP3 Player 2 and Samsung Yepp), or worn like an armband (the Philips Act 200/PSA-64).
• The process of transferring songs between the PC and a portable MP3 player is being simplified. Most devices now have built-in USB or Firewire interfaces for this purpose. Devices such as Creative’s MuVo make song transfer a plug-and-play affair. Wireless connectivity through RF technology like Bluetooth will further simplify transfers.
• Another feature that manufacturers are addressing is internal storage within the player. Many chip-based players now include an expansion slot for memory cards that can double the storage capacity of the
  player.
• Some players (such as Creative’s MuVo) double as file storage devices. Many manufacturers are seriously considering this feature for future models.
• The sound output is being further enhanced through the inclusion of built-in equalisers that can boost low and high frequencies. Some players (like the Creative NOMAD Jukebox Zen) have preset equaliser settings to simulate environments like Stadium, Concert, Bathroom, Garage, etc.
• The growth of hardware-based MP3 players is being driven mainly by multifunction devices with MP3 capability, such as PDAs, digital cameras, cell phones and USB storage devices.
• While chip-based or hard disk-based portable MP3 players are regarded as high-end products, VCD or DVD players with CD-R compatibility have mass-market appeal.
• Leading car audio manufacturers have already introduced MP3-enabled car hi-fi systems. These are either jukeboxes (with hard drives) or CD systems with CD-R compatibility (to play back the MP3 disks you burn on your PC).
• Most players do not have a built-in FM radio, and this is one feature that manufacturers can include in future models.