Everyone's got different priorities when it comes to portable music players. CNET.com.au picks the best MP3 players for sound quality, battery life, ease-of-use and overall features.
Credit: Melissa Siu
There are a lot of factors which influence one's MP3 player purchase. The four most important are audio quality, battery life, ease-of-use and features. So, to help you out, we've chosen the best player for each category. Aesthetics also plays a huge part in the decision, but beauty, as they say in the classics, is in the eye of the beholder.
Best for sound quality: Creative's Zen Vision:M has the best sound quality you can get in an MP3 player. Indeed, all Creative's players excel at audio reproduction, most likely the result of its history of producing excellent computer soundcards. The Vision:M also looks great and supports loads of useful media formats, and is by far the main competitor to Apple's iPod. If you're passionate about sound quality, get a Creative Zen Vision:M.
Best for long battery life: Sony's A-series video Walkmans -- 2GB NW-A805, 4GB NW-A806 and 8GB NW-A808 -- have one of the longest-lasting batteries around. Thirty hours of continuous music or seven hours of continuous full-screen video, and only three hours for a completely full charge. This thrashed the iPod for battery performance. It's also a lovely player with some great features and a smart design.
Best for ease-of-use: Apple's iPod is above any other player for sheer useability, and its iconic appearance is undeniably stylish. The innovative Click Wheel is a God-send for navigating the massive libraries the player can store, and the simple menus -- while conceptually taken from Creative -- are unhindered in their clarity and implementation. There's the smaller and less capacious iPod nano, which also sport the same easy-to-use interface. And if we had a category for the widest range of accessories, the iPod family would blitz it in.
Best for features: The Creative Zen Vision:W may not be slimmest MP3 player on the block but it sure does have a feature-packed punch. In addition to playing back a variety of music formats, it sports an FM tuner, voice recorder and handles most popular video formats (DivX, XviD, MPEG and WMV). With its large 4.3-inch widescreen LCD display and TV-out, it's pretty handy as a portable video player (PVP). To cap it all off it has a CompactFlash slot, which makes it a good backup device for photographers on holiday.
Creative Zen Vision:M (30GB) 
Let's get past the fact that it looks like the iPod. The Creative Zen Vision:M, drenched in features, is a refreshing breath of fresh air in the MP3 market.
Sony NW-A806 Walkman
Were it not for crazy pricing, the A806 would've walked it in for an Editors' Choice award. As it is, it's still a great nano competitor with sound Apple would kill for and video playback to boot.
Apple iPod (updated fifth generation, 80GB)
The new "enhanced" iPod looks like a tremendous improvement over the last one, with a brighter screen and better battery life.
Creative Zen Vision:W
The bulky but easy-to-use Creative Zen Vision:W and its nice screen will dazzle video lovers who don't require video recording.
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Emily
26/07/2007 04:34 PM
Yes,thanks a lot for your details information.Highly craftsmanship as well as resonable price are the most popular and important points while potential buyers want to choose a new MP3 player.
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peruvian
09/02/2008 02:48 PM
So far the best sound for mp3 players I've encountered is Cowon iAudio. Creative does not comes close at all. Sony or Samsung yes, sound good too.
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me
27/03/2008 02:29 PM
i find the zen vision m has excellent battery life, great sound and video and is much easier to use than an ipod, loaded with features as well. zen vision m rules!!
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