Functions of Portable Media Players

Since their beginning, music players have always been used to listen to music with. However, this changed in year 2000 when they started to incorporate different forms of digital media. While some music players are still accustomed to the traditional function of playing music, competition in the market have instigated others to include image viewing, voice recording, radio tuning and video playback features as the most basic requirements.

Most media players today have unprecedented abilities that would not had been imaginable in the past. With a storage capacity of tens or even hundreds of gigabytes, players may not only incorporate a touch screen but also allow the user to organise time tables, contact lists, surf world maps and even access the Internet with a built in Wi-Fi system.

Left: iRiver , Right: iPod Touch

Other players with similar functions and many cell phones are beginning to incorporate such functions, meaning media players need to constantly come up with new features in order to not be rendered obsolete. On the other hand, the quality of media playing on such players should be higher than that found in gaming consoles or cell phones.

Check out History for an insight and illustrative presentation on how the revolutionary Sony Walkman of 1978 has progressed into today's iPod Touch.

Acknowledgemets:

1. Wikipedia for functions of a media player. (16th March 2009)
2. Apple for iPod Touch features. (16th March 2009)