Where to buy mp3 players online.

 With digital downloading of music becoming more prevalent, and the trusty CD player becoming a thing of the past, it's essential that you get a decent mp3 player that not only gives you the same quality of sound that you are used to, but also provides you with the best opportunity to get the most out of the digital download world. Some things to think about before buying:

• Are you going to play videos on the mp3 player - if not then you probably don't need a mp3 player with a lot of memory; while it's nice to have thousands of songs stored on the mp3 player, you can store a couple hundred songs on the mp3 player and save the rest on your PC or Apple computer.
• Do you use legal subscriptions music sites like Rhapsody or Napster? If yes, then you cannot use most Apple mp3 players - while there is an App for Rhapsody on the most recent iPod and iPhone, the other older models do not allow subscription services to work.

The Apple iPod Touch is the latest and greatest in the Apple series; it is like an iPhone only without the phone features. It allows you to download applications, movies and of course music. The advantage of the Apple iPod Touch is that it is the easiest mp3 player to use.

The touch screen features, combined with the seamless integration with iTunes make any Apple product ideal for most people - while the sound quality isn't the best on the market, it is good enough for most ears.

The iPod Touch is an all round great gadget.

 Sansa Fuse is probably the best mp3 player that isn't an Apple. They are sturdy and have excellent sound quality. While not as intuitive as an iPod, they are pretty easy to use and have most of the features that you can find on a classic iPod.

As they use memory cards rather than mini-drives, they are very reliable and tend to last longer than mp3 players with hard drives in them. The biggest advantage of the Sansa Fuse is that it allows you to use all of the subscriptions services such as Rhapsody and Napster and therefore allows you to pay a monthly fee for access to millions of downloadable songs.

From my experience the sound quality is a little better than the iPod, but not that noticeable to the untrained ear.

 Microsoft have always been jealous of the success of Apple especially as their success with the iPod has a spill on effect to the sale of Apple Macs. Therefore it was no surprise when they introduced the Zune. Initially the Zune was a poorly conceived and poorly delivered product, but now with the latest Zune Microsoft truly have a device that is a nice alternative to the iPod.

Not only does the Zune have a pretty decent interface, but it has great sound quality and a nice large screen for viewing videos; Microsoft have their own 'subscription' service that allows you to pay a monthly fee for access to millions of down-loadable songs.

It definately is worth taking a look at as an alternative to the iPod

 Not everyone needs to keep their entire record collection on their mp3 player; there are a lot of reasonably priced players that allow you to keep over 100 songs on your player. The Coby players are well made, perhaps not as intuitive as most players, but for the price the sound quality is excellent.

Don't expect all the features of a high quality player, but if you're looking for a very cheap player to use as you jog, or while driving then this is perfect.