| At times, through the ups and downs of life it | | | | of songs--capitalize on digital technology to |
| seems as though the quality of our lives is | | | | supplant traditional Walkman-style cassette-tape |
| dependent on the people, situations, and conditions | | | | players and portable CD players. Whether you |
| of the world around us. Yet, to take control of | | | | want to get your groove on while working out or |
| our lives, we must be willing to see beyond a | | | | would like to amuse yourself as you commute on |
| short-sighted view of ourselves and our lives. | | | | public transit, a portable MP3 music player would |
| Gone are the days of the CD racks. They are | | | | suit your needs. |
| now being replaced by iPods and other MP3 | | | | MP3 players use one of the two storage |
| players that can put entire music libraries at the | | | | mediums: hard drives or flash memories. A |
| palm of your hand. It's like jumping into the world | | | | hard-drive player offers the greatest amount of |
| of digital music files where you can be free of all | | | | storage space but tends to be larger. |
| the space designated for CDs. You can take it | | | | Flash-memory models hold a more limited number |
| wherever you like, listen to your library in the car, | | | | of songs, but they are more durable than |
| at the gym, at home and at work. | | | | hard-drive players. |
| Digital Audio Players, more commonly referred to | | | | Nearly all MP3 players require a reasonably |
| as MP3 players, are portable handheld electronic | | | | modern PC with a free USB 1.1 or 2.0 ports. |
| devices that store, organize and play audio files. | | | | Specialized MP3 players are not the only devices |
| Some DAPs are also referred as Portable media | | | | you can buy to listen to your music: You can now |
| players, as they have image-viewing and | | | | get mobile phones, thumb drives, digital cameras, |
| video-playing support. | | | | personal digital assistants, and car stereos that |
| Today, MP3 players--available in a wide variety of | | | | can store and playback MP3 music files. |
| styles and sizes and capable of storing thousands | | | | |