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RSS feedsThe 1980s was the era of the Sony Walkman but this decade looks set to be ruled by MP3 jukeboxes. These portable hard disk music players are undoubtedly the latest must-have accessory. In fact the success of Apple's iPod recently caused the company's profits to skyrocket by 300 per cent.
It's not surprising that consumers are really starting to fall in love with MP3 jukeboxes. They can store thousands of music tracks yet are small enough to comfortably slip in your pocket. They also make it much easier to manage your music collection, as all your music files are kept in digital form on a single device.
Most of the players allow you to search quickly for tracks by artist, album name or even music genre. Some can even automatically create playlists based on your most played tracks or songs from a particular decade.
But with so many different products on the market, choosing an MP3 player can be tricky, which is why we decided to take six of the best products on the market for a test drive.
Apple iPod
www.apple.com/ipod
You would have to try very hard not to like the iPod as it's one of the most expertly designed pieces of consumer electronics around. Although most of the attention has been focused on its slim and cute design, the iPod's most impressive feature is its amazingly intuitive user interface.
The player is controlled using just four buttons and a touch-sensitive scroll wheel, yet it's absolute child's play to whiz around the menus. Neat features such as the way you can quickly create playlists while out and about using the On the Go feature just add to the gadget's overall charm.
The iPod is not without its problems, though. At around eight hours, battery life is pretty lightweight by the standards of some newer jukeboxes, and it no longer holds the crown of tiniest 20Gb hard disk player on the market.
Also, although the iTunes for Windows software that comes with the iPod looks great and is easy to use, it forces you to comply with Apple's nannying digital rights-management system.
The result is that it is possible to download songs onto the iPod, but tracks can only then be uploaded back to the original PC. The other rather cumbersome issue is that the WMA file format is not supported at all.
But despite these faults the iPod remains a superb music player. Other jukeboxes may offer better battery life and more features, but the iPod does what it does so well that you'll still pass over them to get to this little white box of tricks.
Archos Gmini220
www.archos.com
Archos was one of the first companies to dabble in MP3 hard disk players but its previous jukeboxes have been rather chunky. In comparison the Gmini220 is a slim supermodel. But whereas the iPod has a long but thin design, the Gmini is slightly thicker and squarer.
We have to say we prefer Apple's approach, as the Gmini just doesn't slide into your pocket as easily. Nonetheless there are some significant bonuses with this player. For starters, it's got a broad 2.5in monochrome LCD screen that dominates the front of the fascia.
The player is also a bit of a jack-of-all-trades because as well as using it to play MP3s, the Gmini can also be employed as a voice recorder, MP3 encoder and portable storage device.
The unique feature, though, is the CompactFlash slot tucked away on the left-hand side of the player, which can be used to download pictures directly from a digital camera, for viewing on the aforementioned display.
With innovative features like this it's a shame that Archos didn't make a better job of the Gmini's user interface. We kept coming across all sorts of glitches, and the player locked up completely on a number of occasions.
Battery life is also short at eight hours and the only control built into the headphone lead, is a rather cheap-looking integrated volume control. That is not to say that the Gmini is a bad jukebox but a bit of extra effort from Archos on the software front could have made this a far more desirable player overall.
CoWon Systems iAudio M3
www.cowon.com
CoWon Systems is not a name that will be familiar to many in the UK but that looks set to change if the iAudio M3 is anything to go by. The company has realised that to have any chance at competing with the iPod you have to create a player that is even smaller than Apple's pride and joy, and that is exactly what it has managed to do with the M3.
This really is an extremely slim device for a player built around a hard drive. In part the diminutive dimensions have been made possible because there is no display on the main unit. Instead there is a display mounted on the set of controls that hooks up to the unit via a dedicated cable.
This may be a clever idea but it's not without its problems. The display is very small and as a result the user interface can be a bit tricky to navigate. However, the biggest downer is the absence of any facility to choose songs by artist name or song title, leaving users to browse through folders as you would on a PC.
The M3 is packed with other features, though. The battery life is pretty good at 14 hours, which represents six hours more play time than the iPod, and it has a built-in FM radio, a voice recorder and an onboard MP3 encoder that allows you to record directly from a hi-fi or personal CD player.
This impressive feature list and the device's small size make it one of the best players on the market. If the user interface was just a bit better it would be a real winner.
Creative Zen Xtra
www.creative.com
The Zen Xtra is unlikely to win any beauty contests: it is a rather fat MP3 player and to make matters even worse it has an altogether unappealing design.
This latest model does, however, improve on Creative's previous offering, featuring a larger screen and more storage capacity. The larger screen does make the player easier to use and the 60Gb of storage means even John Peel could store his music collection on one of these devices.
The other plus point is the long battery life. With 15 hours of playing time, the Zen can keep on pumping out tunes for around twice as long as the iPod.
While it certainly is an improvement on its predecessor, the chunky Zen Xtra does still fall down in certain areas. The unit feels cheap and far less solid than other players in this test. It also comes with horrible PC software for transferring files.
This would be less of a problem if the Zen acted as a standard removable hard drive when plugged into a PC but sadly it doesn't, and without the software it's not possible to access any files on the device.
Another big minus point is the fact there are no controls other than those on the main unit, so to skip tracks or adjust the volume you have to fish the player out of your pocket.
On paper the Zen Xtra may appear to be good value for money but it's really the Lada of the jukebox world - ultimately you get what you pay for.
iRiver iHP-140
nordic.iriver.se
Having made its name selling solid-state MP3 players, iRiver has now turned its attention to MP3 jukeboxes and is certainly offering a lot of value with the iHP-140.
Not only is there 40Gb of storage space on offer, which is enough for around 600 hours of MP3 music, there is a host of built-in extras. An integrated FM radio heads the line-up along with a built-in voice recorder and an MP3 encoder so you can record your own tracks from an external source such as a CD player or mini disc.
Other attractive touches include the ability to store text notes and view them on the player's screen and, as the jukebox looks like a standard removable hard drive to computers running Windows, it can easily be used to move files between PCs.
We also liked the fact that it has two displays: a main display on the unit itself and another smaller one on the excellent control panel that connects to the unit via a lead.
But although the iHP-140 is roughly the same width and height as the iPod, it is considerably thicker. Its biggest failing, however, is its interface, which makes the iHP-140 about as user-friendly as a Rubik's Cube.
You constantly need to refer to the manual to find out how to perform simple functions such as switching between the FM radio and the MP3 player when you first start using it. So in the end the iHP-140 is a feature packed jukebox that is seriously let down by a terrible user interface.
Philips HDD120
www.philips.com
If anything comes close to matching, or even outdoing, the iPod in terms of style it's the Philips HDD120. The expensive-looking, piano-black fascia and the mirrored stainless-steel side panels make it one cool-looking cucumber.
The HDD120 has more to offer than good looks alone, as the player is also packed with features. It can be used for transferring data between PCs and also has a built-in voice recorder and onboard MP3 encoder so you can record MP3s directly from a hi-fi or CD player using the line-in socket. It can play WMA files as well as MP3s and you get a basic but functional remote control.
There are some downsides, however. The player is noticeably thicker than the iPod and, although the interface is intuitive and easy to use, it is also a tad sluggish.
Like the iPod the HDD120 uses digital rights-management technology to limit piracy so, although it appears to Windows systems as a standard hard drive, if you copy music files to it via Windows Explorer they won't actually play on the device. Instead you have to transfer music using Philips' Media Management software, which is severely lacking in features.
Despite these failings the HDD120 probably comes closest to knocking the iPod from its perch. It looks good, sounds great and is easy to use, but if you don't need the onboard encoding features the iPod is still the better player.
Head to head
Unfortunately for the competition, no one has yet managed to trump the iPod's triple whammy of diminutive dimensions, cute styling and ease of use. It may now be the granddaddy of the jukebox world but it still shows the young tykes a thing or two. If you're after a portable, user-friendly music player then the iPod is still an unbeatable package.
Nevertheless, it does lack a built-in MP3 encoder and a voice recorder, so if these features are of prime importance then the Philips HDD120 is worth a look. It has all the recording options that the iPod lacks but still has a classy-looking design and a slightly longer battery life of 10 hours.
A special mention should also go to the slim iAudio M3. This player is the first we've seen that is actually smaller than the iPod, although the fact you cannot search for tracks by song title or artist name is a shortcoming.
Can you fix it?
Hard disk MP3 players cram a lot of technology into a very small space, so when problems occur it can be expensive to get them fixed. In fact, if your player develops a fault the manufacturer will often insist on sending you a brand-new device. This is obviously not a problem if the player is still within the warranty period but if this has expired it can prove very costly.
For example, Apple has annoyed some users with its repair policy for iPods that have suffered battery problems. Some people experienced difficulties with the iPod when, over time, the battery life reduced dramatically.
The controversy deepened mainly because Apple insisted that there was no other option but for these users but to buy a new iPod. Thankfully it has now relented on this policy and has established a battery-replacement service that costs £79 for products that are out of warranty. It's still expensive but much better than having to buy a new iPod.
Alternative software
The PC software supplied with MP3 jukeboxes can vary substantially in quality and usability, but if you plump for a relatively popular model there's a good chance that better software is available for the device.
For example, the software Creative supplies with the Zen Xtra is relatively poor but Red Chair Software provides software called Notmad that is far superior. It also has a similar product available for the iPod called Anapod.
There are also plug-ins available for popular software MP3 players such as Winamp or MusicMatch that allow you to manage the tracks stored on a jukebox. The iPod plug-in for Winamp is a good example of this.
But it doesn't stop there. Some enthusiasts have even written software that runs directly on the actual players. A group of programmers got together and wrote a completely new and free operating system called Rockbox for the older Archos jukeboxes, and others have written text adventure games that can be played through the Notes feature built in to the Apple iPod.
See also:
Napster To Go service extended to support smartphones 04 Nov 2004
Gigabeat range of 10GB, 20GB and 60GB players set for Japanese launch 28 Sep 2004
More acquisitions may follow as Yahoo plans assault on digital music market 16 Sep 2004
New rival to Apple's MP3 player comes with 5GB memory and 20 hours' battery life 02 Sep 2004
Carbon player boasts longer battery life and more memory than Apple rival 03 Aug 2004
New, improved iPod original given longer battery life and cheaper price tag 20 Jul 2004Online music services are back in business but this time you have to pay. We look at seven sites to see what you get for your money 12 Jul 2004
Poor playback hampering acceptance into the living room, says Dolby 24 Jun 2004Apple develops adapter to deliver music through the car stereo 22 Jun 2004The music industry has finally worked out how to make money out of internet music downloads. But will legal online music services be as popular as P2P sites? 18 Jun 2004
Major UK artists will not be included after failing to agree terms 15 Jun 2004All Laptops & Portables
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