Your first digital music player — it seems like there are so many choices. With all the different styles and features available, how do you decide which player's right for you? Figuring out the features you want in a player and how you expect to use it is a good place to start. In this guide we'll offer up some things for you to consider so you can select the MP3 player that's best suited to your needs.

If you're leaning towards an Apple® iPod® — currently the most popular type of MP3 player — you might like to check out our iPod shopping guide.

Hard drive players — such as the 160GB iPod classic — can generally store more music and videos.

Hard drive vs. embedded memory

There are two basic types of MP3 players — those with a hard drive, and those that use embedded memory. Inside a hard-drive player, data is stored on a spinning disc that's similar to the one in your computer. Embedded or flash memory players use a kind of transistor to store information, eliminating the need for internal moving parts. It's the same system found in memory cards and thumb drives.

While hard-drive and embedded memory players share many similarities, there are a few basic differences.

Memory capacity

Some hard-drive players currently have as much as 160 gigabytes of storage, and even greater capacity drives are currently in development. How much storage is that? Enough to hold almost four months of music. Hard drive players were made for larger music collections.

Embedded memory players generally have smaller storage capacity. Some micro-sized players hold only 1 gigabyte; some larger embedded memory players go up to 16 gigabytes. In terms of storage, that's a range of about 16 hours to about eleven days worth of music. If you're interested in only having a select best from your collection with you, an embedded memory player may be the way to go.

The iPod shuffle® player is only about the size of a thumb drive, and uses the same kind of memory.

Size

Embedded memory players don't need to provide interior space for a spinning hard drive and spindle, so they tend to be much more compact and slender than hard-drive players of comparable memory capacity. Some embedded memory players aren't much bigger than the thumb drives they emulate.

Non-skip operation

A jolt can cause the spindle in a hard-drive player to skip. Most players cache 15 minutes or more of music to compensate. The player continues with the cached material while the spindle "finds its place" on the hard drive again, providing uninterrupted listening. While bumps encountered through normal handling won't hurt a hard-drive player, excessive, repeated jostling can put an unusual strain on the spindle, shortening its operational life.

Embedded memory players have no internal moving parts to jostle. Regardless of how hard or how often they're bumped, they won't skip. If you'd like to listen to your player while jogging or performing other strenuous physical activities, an embedded memory player might make a better choice.