MP3 players are portable media players to listen to your favourite music, store video files and images. Without question the most famous one is the Apple iPod but other brands are catching up quickly with the technology and features.
The development started with portable cassette players followed by CD players and finally Mini Disc players. However, the devices were not able to store music in digital files and relied on external storage drives. As they were much bigger than today's MP3 players and had a limited functionality their use wasn't as handy and the audio quality often suffered from movements. Consequently, portable audio devices were not best for outside activities, running and exercising in those days.
This all changed in 2001 when Apple released the first iPod with 5GB storage for more than 1000 songs in the new mp3 format. Supported by iTunes and thanks to the small size and huge storage capacity, the iPod is still the most popular MP3 player on the market. According to recent surveys it is not only the best selling MP3 player but also has almost no substitute product.
Today, the Apple product range comprises the iPod classic, iPod nano, iPod shuffle and the latest iPod touch as well as the iPhone. These small portable MP3 players can play audio files like mp3 and others but also display images and play videos. Recent models also support the new MPEG-4 format.
In a nutshell, the Apple iPod provides an all-around solution for portable audio. The Apple software iTunes can be regarded as the most popular programme for organising and storing music and other audio and video files. Whereas it was previously only available for Apple computers like the Mac, it can now be downloaded by everyone. It offers the user the benefit of automatically updating the iPod as soon as it is connected to the computer. This makes it easier to organise the music library and saves a lot of time, too.
Even though other manufacturers like Sony and Samsung try to gain some market share, the iPod is still the outstanding market leader due to Apple's innovation focus this is unlikely to change in the near future.
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