This New York Times article does a nice review of digital audio players, and I thought I would add my recent experiences to the article. What makes the MP3 format so popular is its ability to shrink a large audio file--say a four-minute song that took up 45 megabytes on a CD--into an MP3 file that takes up less than 5 megabytes and still sounds great to most people. Earlier this year I decided to finally take the plunge and purchase a hard-drive-based MP3 player. I was finally motivated by the new amazing storage capacity of the hard-drive-based MP3 players. I nearly purchased the major bestseller in this market, the iPod, but I decided to opt for a far more cost-effective option.

Creative Labs is the company that makes Sound Blaster, one of the best sound cards for computers. Earlier this year they produced a 60 GB Nomad Zen. This device can record 16,000 songs on it, which is a few weeks worth of non-stop music or lectures. Since I am very frugal I went with the Nomad because at the time it was $100 less than the $500 iPod and:

• Had twice the storage capacity of the iPod
• Was $100 less expensive ($400 for the Nomad was a far better deal than $500 for the iPod that had half the capacity)
• The battery lasted 40 percent longer (14 hours versus 10 for the iPod)
• Had better sound quality

The downside was that the Nomad did not have the "cool" or "hip" factor associated with the iPod. However, this has never been a problem for me previously, as I usually am an early adopter of technology and don't mind standing out from the crowd. Since I purchased my 60 GB Nomad, Creative Labs came out with an even better value, a 30 GB Nomad. This model only costs $259.

I opted for the larger 60 GB model as I also use the Nomad for one of its other nifty features--it doubles as a portable hard drive backup device. So I backup all my important files from my computers that I don't want to lose on the Nomad. That alone is nearly worth the cost of the device. It is the rare person who will need the full 60 GB model, unless you have loads of computer files to back up or many hundreds of CDs that you want to store, the 30 GB model is half the price and will work just fine.

The other two doctors in my practice also each purchased one of the 60 GB Nomads and they also love them. It really is wonderful to be able to run, fly on an airplane or take a five-hour car ride and have an essentially unlimited supply of music or audio lectures to listen to--very stress relieving! This technology is just awesome.

You may also want to check out Dell's just-released Digital Jukebox 20 Gigabyte version. It appears that this is may actually be the best MP3 player on the market

Here are the reasons why Dell's Digital Jukebox seems to be the best:

• Has the longest battery life--rated at 16 hours but lasted well over 20 (iPod is only 8 hours)
• Has built-in audio recording so you can use it to record lectures (iPod does this also but you must purchase additional hardware. Nomad doesn't do it at all.)
• Uses similar 1.8-inch hard drive as iPod (Nomad uses larger hard drive, weighs more and is larger.
• It's $100 less than iPod, and has the same price but more features than Nomad Zen

You can view the chart below for even more comparisons.

By Christmas there will be many new players out, so keep an eye out for even better arrangements coming soon.

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