The Development of the MP3 Player

2008-10-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

The MP3 Player is the most recent music storage device, and yet has still been widely developed since the very first MP3 Player was introduced in 1998.

The popularity of the MP3 Player is due to the fact that up to thousands of songs can be stored within one small portable device, a big step up from prior devices such as CD or cassette players.
Although the basic aspects of the MP3 Player have stayed the same, such as the MP3 format itself, a basic playlist and the ability to copy music from the internet, CD's or the radio, new designs and special features are constantly in development.

One feature that is perhaps the most well known for it's constant changes is the MP3 Players memory, this depending on the type of player.

Hard drive players are probably the most common type of player and can provide a very large amount of storage. This is demonstrated by the Apple Ipod which can hold up to a massive 80GB, yet can also provide smaller amounts of storage within the same design to suit everyone. Due to such large amounts of memory, hard drive players are also well suited to allow other features to be stored, such as videos, photographs and other additional data. The only drawback to this idea is that this then forces the hard drive to consume more power, although this is increasingly becoming less of a problem as accessories such as battery packs with the ability to extend battery time up to 10 hours are again being constantly developed.

Another popular player is that of the Flash memory player. This generally stores fewer songs yet still offers the capability of video, data and photograph storage. Although it's memory is smaller, there are also many advantages of the Flash memory player. For example, the models themselves tend to be smaller than Hard Drive players and contain anti skip protection due to the fact that it contains no moving parts. This makes the player ideal for use within mobile phones and other portable devices.

MP3 Players have developed greatly over the last few years and I think the future still holds a lot for these devices. Hybrid Players such as DVD players, satellite radios and PDA's have already been created, and products such as sunglasses, swim goggles and even a swiss army knifes are being adapted to fit players. Apart from the adaption of existing products in order to feature MP3 players, I think the original features will also be expanded in the future. This I believe will include providing much larger memory and battery life, plus improvements to the design such as creating much smaller players.

First Questions

2008-10-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

What do I want to get out of the course in addition to passing?
I'd like to gain a better understanding of all the different aspects of this course which prior to coming to NTU I did not get the opportunity to explore fully. I'd also like to have a better idea of what this course can offer me for the future and what career choices I should make.

What did you get up to in your first week?
So far welcome week has been a great experience. It has mainly consisted of meeting lots of new people, learning more about NTU and Nottingham city itself plus lots of drinking/partying (of course!).

Tori

The Development of the MP3 Player

First Questions