The vast sea of digital music players is in front of you as you have begun your search for the newest piece of electronic genius to enter your life.  Now you are sifting through the layers and layers of features and benefits to each and every player on the market.  Where to go?  What to do?  How much memory do I need?  How long will this last me?  Keep reading and find out.

To be able to utilize your music library you need to consider what type of hard drive player you are going to purchase.  If you have a lot of CDs to copy, don’t even consider flash drive players, they will not have the space you need.  Pick the brand that you are happy with and then make an informed decision based on the amount of songs you are planning to transfer.

A few things to consider:

1. What format are the songs going to be in when you put them on your digital audio player?  For instance, if all the files you are going to put on your player are downloaded and in MP3 format then you’ll get about half as many downloaded to your player as you would if the files were WMA.  If you are simply going to rip your CDs to your computer and then sync with your player then make sure the player is WMA compatible.

2. Based on the type of music you listen to, about how long are the types of songs you listen to?  We all love eighties metal bands, but some Metallica songs far exceed the seven or eight minute mark and most manufacturer specifications for how many songs you can fit on a hard or flash drive player are based on four minute song length.  You may get less than you bargained for if you don’t do your research.

3. How long do you plan on spending to rip the songs to your computer before syncing?  If you are like most people, you buy some albums for all the songs, but most you buy for just a couple of really good tracks.  The more time you spend selecting the tracks to put on your player instead of ripping the whole thing could save you a lot of space for just the songs that you like or will listen to.

Consider all of the above and you will get the most out of your music library.  If you get the most out of your music library then you’ll love your new digital audio player.