MP3 WMA audio players

MP3 and wma music players

The most popular MP3 player is the Apple iPod. There are a number of different player models, large, small, with and without screen.

The iPod range includes the following:

• iPod touch
• iPod classic
• iPod nano
• iPod shuffle

There is a large selection of high quality MP3 players from other well known and established manufacturers.

The media player requires the transfer of music, usually in MP3 format, onto the devices' memory. A computer or laptop is required to do the transfer. Some media players can use external memory devices.

MP3 devices can be connected to portable speakers and docking stations.

What is MP3?

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital audio players.

• Lossy: sounds are removed, but human should not be able to hear too much difference. This is because the algorithm takes advantage of a perceptual limitation of human hearing called auditory masking.
• Compressed: Files are smaller - about 1/10th of the original music size.

What is WMA and how do I play it?

Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs.

Most music players are able to play wma as well as MP3 audio files.