MP3 Buying Guide
Introduction to MP3 Buying Guide
MP3 players can give you access to thousands of songs at the touch of a button. Some players have enough memory to allow you to carry around your entire music collection around in your pocket. Our MP3 player guide helps you understand how they work.
Buy an MP3 player from Tesco.com
How does an MP3 player work?
MP3 is short for MPEG 1, Audio Layer 3. It uses the standard technology and format for compressing a sound into a very small computer file (about a twelfth of the original size), while cleverly keeping the original level of sound quality. You can load these files onto an MP3 player.
Find out more about the MP3 format
Loading music
There are two main ways to load music onto your MP3 player. You can either transfer music from your PC or download it from an MP3 download site. Most MP3 players come with the software you need to convert CD audio files to the MP3 format. Music download websites offer songs and albums to buy. For 79p per track you can download MP3s from Tesco.com. You just need an Internet connection and a home computer with the right specifications.
Find out more about MP3 downloads
The benefits of MP3 players
Small and mobile
You can consolidate all your music quickly and easily onto your MP3 player and listen to it wherever you go.
Get loaded
Load music whenever you want, either from a CD or online. Tesco.com has over 500,000 tracks.
Like the sound?
MP3 players offer high-quality digital sound. You can vary the size of the file (bitrate) to fit more songs on your MP3 player, but this will reduce the sound quality. The better the quality you select, the more memory it uses. A level of around 100Kbps is a good compromise: it gives near-CD quality sound and good memory usage (over a minute for each megabyte)
Buy an MP3 player from Tesco.com
What you'll need
A PC and the right MP3 player. You will need minimum specified requirements for the player for it to be compatible with your computer. Most MP3 players are not compatible with Macs, however Apple's iPod is compatible with both PCs and Macs.
Depending on your computer, there will be different ways of plugging in your accessories. MP3 players typically connect using USB, USB 2.0 or FireWire ports. Transferring a song via USB 2.0 or FireWire is twice as fast as USB and takes a matter of seconds.
What to look for in an MP3 player
A good memory
The amount of memory will determine how much music you will be able to store on your MP3 player. Models range from 256MB (enough room for 125 songs) right up to 60GB (enough room for 15,000 songs). If you choose a lower capacity MP3 player you'll be able to change the songs on your player, but you'll have to swap them around on your computer first. With a higher capacity model you'll be able to access your entire collection at any time. A higher capacity is also useful if the MP3 player is capable of storing other types of media e.g. photos and videos. You can delete files to make space at any time.
Formats
An MP3 file is one of a number of different music files that are available. You'll need to check the compatibility of your player before buying music online. Other similar formats include:
- WMA - Windows Media Audio
- WAV - Windows Audio-Video Format
- AAC - Advanced Audio Codec (used by iTunes)
- ATRAC - Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (used by Sony products)
- AIFF - Audio Interchange File Format
Find out more about MP3 formats
Other great features
Many MP3 players offer far more than just music and good looks. Look out for other handy things:
- Integrated FM tuner
- Store and view digital photos
- Store and watch videos
- Voice recording
- Play games
- Store data files (including documents, contacts, calendars and to-do lists)
Buy an MP3 player from Tesco.com
Other things to consider
It's all in the accessories
As MP3 players have become more popular, there's an ever-growing range of accessories. Tesco.com has an extensive range of useful add-ons, from protective cases to stereo speakers.
Is it legal?
Most MP3 files can be downloaded legally. However, it is a breach of copyright to download songs that have been copied illegally and made available on Internet through file-sharing software. It is best to download music from official sites such as Tesco.com.