MP3 is a fashionable and avant-garde digital walkman product, which has won the favor of many friends. But buying a good MP3 player is not that simple. The grades of MP3 are also mixed, and the quality is also very different. How to choose a good MP3, let's take a look at this topic.
Q: What are the criteria for purchasing MP3 players?
Answer: When buying hardware products, you may be more concerned about the performance indicators of the hardware. There are also relevant parameters to look at when purchasing an MP3 player. The first is the supported playback formats. In addition to supporting the MP3 format, the current MP3 also depends on whether it supports the WMA format.
Another use of buying MP3 is to use it as mobile storage. However, some famous brand products often do not support MP3 file format upload, so you need to check whether the MP3 player supports the file upload function when purchasing.
Each MP3 player has built-in memory, usually in 32M, 64M, or 128M specifications. Special attention should be paid to this, because usually products of the same model are available in 32M and 64M. The appearance is There is no difference, be careful to get the wrong model for JS. Then take a look at what kind of memory card the MP3 you purchased uses, whether it is SM or MMC, etc., and what the maximum capacity of the extended memory card supports.
Finally, of course, you need to try it out in person to see if the sound quality is clear, adjust the EQ equalizer to audition the sound quality, whether the control is easy, and whether the functions are complete.
Question: What types of MP3 are there, what uses are they suitable for, and what types are they available?
Answer: The specific classification of MP3 is not very clear, but it can be divided into three categories according to price: high, middle and low.
Those priced below 1,000 yuan are low-end machines, usually domestic brand products, but some are well-known brand products that have been discontinued. Such products often have special promotions. This level of MP3 does not have many functions, and the sound quality is not very good. It often solves the problem of whether to have an MP3 or not. It allows students to learn music while listening to music. In short, do not have too many requirements for a product at this price. Recommended products: Diamond Rio600; DEC M50, MP-man f55; Founder MP3-A20, etc.
The price of mid-range machines is about 1,000~1,500 yuan. There are many products from well-known manufacturers at this price, but they are all simplified versions. Their built-in memory is often only 32M, and some high-end machines that have been discontinued have At this price point, this part of the MP3 player has relatively complete functions and a pretty good appearance, which can fully meet the requirements of ordinary users. Recommended products are: SAMSUNG YP-E64P, YP NEU32; JNCJNC164B/S, Diamond Rio 800, etc.
High-end machines are products above 1,500 yuan, and each well-known brand’s newly released products and mainstream products are At this price point, you can experience the real fun of MP3. This part of the product has integrated all the functions of MP3. The appearance quality is also first-class, and the built-in memory is 64M. However, high performance also brings a high price, so you have to decide whether to purchase it. Recommended products are: SAMSUNG 30S, 90S; oMAD Ⅱ MG, JukeBox, etc.
Selection indicators:
1. Appearance:
At present, MP3 players on the market have various shapes and appearances, including alternative, traditional, silver, and black. , red, purple... It seems that each brand has several products that are similar in shape to other brands, so it is difficult to choose. You can only rely on your own feeling. However, the appearance of a product can largely determine its workmanship. Products with poor feel and poor color will not have much better overall workmanship. At present, most of the casings of MP3 products are made of ABS engineering plastics, while a small number of higher-end products are made of metal, and the surface is mostly made of baking paint.
2.LCD display screen:
The popular MP3 players nowadays all have LCD screen display, which makes the operation more intuitive and convenient. Of course, all LCD screens have backlights, and the current color of the backlights is mostly blue. At present, there are also colorful displays on the market, but they are generally more expensive, consume more power, and have little practical value. If you are not very fashion-conscious and have money in your pocket, you can still put it down. , don’t think about it. There are also some MP3 products on the market that do not have LCD screen displays, so many functions cannot be implemented and operation is inconvenient, but the price is lower.
3. Supported languages:
For products with LCD displays, English display is the most common, but of course friends hope to see simple and clear Chinese menus . The so-called support for ID3 means that the song title and artist can be displayed in Chinese. But at present, whether they are imported or domestic products, most MP3s can only display song titles in Chinese, but the menus and lyrics are still in English. Especially the original imported products, almost none support the display of Chinese lyrics.
4. Memory capacity:
The capacity of an MP3’s built-in flash memory should be the parameter that friends pay most attention to. It's like a computer's hard drive, which determines how many files you can store. From the early 16MB, 32MB, to the current 64MB, 128MB, 256MB and a few 512MB, there are even ultra-large capacity hard drive MP3s. The development of MP3 will move towards larger memory capacity. But the current market leading product is still 128MB. Generally speaking, the 128Kbps compression rate MP3 we often use takes up about 3-5MB of space per song. With the current mainstream 128MB memory, about 30 songs can be stored, which should be enough to meet the needs of friends. Besides, with the current MP3 operating system, there are too many songs stored and it is very troublesome to search them. So if you don’t have much money in your pocket, it is better not to choose a product with too large capacity. In the worst case, you can just update the songs frequently.
5. Supported formats:
MP3 format is the most commonly used. It supports a sampling rate of 44.1KHz, and the usable bit rate is generally 8-256Kbps. Different MP3 products have different support ranges for sampling rate and bit rate. Of course, the wider the supported range, the better. For sampling rate, better products can support up to 48KHz. For dynamic encoding VBR, the file size can be made smaller with the same sound quality, but some machines cannot support it.
WMA is a format promoted by Microsoft, with a compression rate generally between 5-192Kbps. Under the same sound quality, WMA can be smaller than MP3 format files, so an MP3 player with this function is equivalent to increasing its memory capacity in disguise. I would also like to remind my friends that when using the WMP that comes with Windows to compress files, you need to remove the copyright protection option, otherwise the compressed WMA files cannot be played on MP3; WMA files downloaded from the Internet are encrypted, so Players that support WMA may not be able to play the video.
For other formats, such as ASF, WAV, etc., they are not as easy to use as MP3 and WMA formats. From a practical point of view, they are dispensable.
6. FM frequency modulation function:
In order to improve the function, many MP3 products on the market have developed FM frequency modulation function in the machine, which can receive FM frequency modulation programs received by ordinary radios. , and can preset multiple radio stations and even record the music in the radio station. This is a very good creation for friends who like to listen to radio programs, but for users who are not interested in listening to radio, there is no need to choose a much more expensive MP3 with FM function.
7. EQ settings:
It is the sound effect settings. Almost every product will have several preset sound effect settings, such as normal, rock, jazz, pop, and classical.
Some MP3s also support custom sound effect settings, which users can customize according to their own preferences. But for products without LCD screens, these EQ settings almost do not exist, and there is only a sound effect mode that is solidified by itself. This seems a bit cruel to some friends who are particularly loyal to personalized music effects. 8. System program: MP3 system program is very important for the machine. It can solve all software problems during the use of MP3 and also plays a vital role in the stability of the system. In addition, some MP3 products can solve some bugs or add some new functions through firmware upgrades, so it would be best if they can support this function. Of course, this has a lot to do with the manufacturer's firmware development speed.
9. Frequency response range:
The sound frequency range that the human ear can hear is 20-20000Hz. Sounds below 20Hz and above 20KHz cannot be distinguished by the human ear. came out. However, the frequency response range is between 50Hz and 18KHz, which should be enough. Current MP3s should be able to reach this frequency response range. However, frequency response range and sampling rate are different, so don’t confuse them.
10. Signal-to-noise ratio:
The signal-to-noise ratio is the ratio between the maximum undistorted sound signal intensity produced by the sound source and the intensity of the noise emitted at the same time, usually expressed as "SNR" or " "S/N" means it is an important parameter for measuring sound-producing equipment such as speakers and headphones. For MP3, it is also a very critical parameter. "Signal-to-noise ratio" is generally measured in decibels (dB). The higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the better the effect of the audio equipment. Generally speaking, at least choose a product with a signal-to-noise ratio above 60dB. However, there is currently no formal testing organization to evaluate the signal-to-noise ratio of products, so some inferior MP3 product descriptions also have high signal-to-noise ratios marked on them. This can only be verified by your own ears. If you can hear an obvious "buzzing" or "hissing" current-like sound when MP3 is not playing any audio signal, it means that the signal-to-noise ratio of the machine is too low and it is not suitable for purchase.
11. Recording function:
Most of the current MP3 products have recording functions, which include recording external sounds, recording FM programs, transcribing sounds from other devices such as CDs. The effect of directly recording external sounds is not very ideal at present; transcribing sounds played by other devices also has great effect flaws. At present, MP3s that can be recorded mostly use MP3 and WMA formats, but their encoding computing power is not powerful and the sound effect is not very good; some use ADPCM format, which is a complex encoding format, and the sound quality is not good, but It can make the file size smaller, and recording in this format can store recording information for a longer period of time.
12. Repeat function:
In order to cater to student users who learn foreign languages, MP3 manufacturers have set up a repeat function in the machine to support simple repeat between two points A-B. This is more necessary for student users.
13. Mobile storage:
Current MP3 players can be used as mobile storage to facilitate users to move files. Moreover, almost all MP3s no longer require drivers (except Win98), and only a few MP3s require the use of their own management programs to upload and download files between the MP3 player and the computer.
14. Interface:
Early products that used serial ports are no longer seen. Current MP3s all use USB interfaces, which have fast transmission rates and support hot plugging. But most of the interfaces used for MP3 are USB1.1 interfaces, and USB2.0 interfaces are rarely seen. There are also some special uses of the 1394 interface, which are extremely rare.
15. Battery:
In order to make the MP3 slimmer, many manufacturers build lithium batteries into MP3 players and charge them through the USB interface. Although this saves the cost of buying batteries, in many cases the battery is too low to be used because it is not charged for a long time, especially during long journeys. This situation is embarrassing.
MP3 products that use dry batteries are slightly larger in size, but the batteries can be replaced at any time, ensuring that you can enjoy music anytime and anywhere without power restrictions (after all, dry batteries are sold everywhere). When it comes to batteries, we cannot fail to mention the issue of MP3 power consumption. Many MP3 players claim how long a AAA battery can be used. These are all tested using specific batteries in specific usage environments. However, the data provided by some manufacturers is too watery and may even be suspected of false reporting. Friends can measure it themselves after purchasing. If they find products that consume too much power, they can ask for replacement.