In this article, I'll go over the three major categories of MP3 players, with tips for choosing the best one.

1: MP3 CD Players

An MP3 CD player is a digital music player that plays CDs – either standard audio CDs or MP3 CDs. MP3 CDs use a different file format than standard CDs, so they can hold many times the number of songs a standard CD can. With most computers, you can easily burn MP3 CDs for use with your player.

2: Flash Based MP3 Players

A Flash Based Player uses a static form of media such as a memory card to store your digital music on. You can get Flash based players that hold any where from 64MB (about 15-20 songs) up to several Gigabytes of music.

Flash players are general the toughest of the three types, and can take knocks and bangs better. My flash based player (a Rio Sport model) has been dropped and kicked many times while running, but it still goes strong.

Most flash players use a USB interface to connect to your computer so you can easily load them up with music.

3: Hard drive based MP3 Players

As the name suggests, a hard drive MP3 player uses a hard drive to store your music on. They generally have the largest storage capacity, up to about 100 GB of music, which will hold all but the very largest of music collections. Just like flash players, most hard drive players use a USB interface to connect to your computer so you can easily load them up with music.