What is the difference between MTP, UMS and MSC MP3 players?

By Ella Morton on 20 April 2007

UMS and MSC are the same thing. This type of player functions as a mass storage device, and will show up on your computer as an external drive (eg "E:\"), just like a USB key or portable hard drive. You drag and drop your music files -- an application such as Windows Media Player is not required in order to transfer songs. You can put your music into folders if you want to sort it by artist, and these folders will show upon your device. Otherwise, the songs will be listed alphabetically.

With MTP, you will often need to use a program like Media Player in order to transfer files. The format also allows for metadata (album covers, automatic organisation of songs by artist, title and album).

If you have a Mac (and don't want to delve into the world of iPods), you'll want to go for a UMS player, as these should show up as an external drive on your computer. MTP players tend not to be compatible without a third-party program and a lot of fiddling around, and even then it's not guaranteed.

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Topics: mp3, msc, mtp, ums, music

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Comments (4)

hachis commented on 04/01/2008 05:46

Same question with linux - UMS and MSC will both just mount as another external drive?
Anonymous_ commented on 03/01/2008 02:12

THX for this answer! I do not know what is MTP mode, before you give me this answer.
some other guy commented on 17/11/2007 02:02

since the original question refered to the compability to macs, the answer were very long and didnt leave a definete answer at all.

ums players (iriver among others) are compatible with all types of operating systems and hardware that support usb ports. dont ever support ipods and such junk that use their own stupid formats and applications to transfer music or video to the device.
anonymous commented on 28/05/2007 01:24

Good explanation! Thank you.

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