Portable Media Player Comparison

Introduction

This page compares a variety of Portable Media Players, including no-name generic import (chinese) models,
Linux based players, Archos hard drive based players, iPods, iPhone, Zune, Creative, Sandisk, RCA Lyra, and Samsung as well as PDAs.   It includes detailed comparison tables for the generic and Archos players.
This page does not cover audio only players.

Generic Chinese media players

There are a number of similar designs of MP3/Video players that can be found on ebay and websites.     These are basically 8-bit CPU + DSP based MP3 players that have had video playing capability added but the CPU is not fast enough to handle standard formats so they typically use a non-standard AMV format.     The players come with a conversion program for Windoze to convert videos; no converter is currently availible for Linux (and the installer fails under wine) but it appears some folks may be working on it.   Note that these are often marketed as MP4 players but they can't play MP4 files without conversion.   The AMV video format is a nuisance but it does permit video players at audio player prices. 

Standard headphones use a 3.5mm jack but some of these players have 2.5mm jacks.   While adapters are availible, the adapter will significantly increase the mechanical stresses on the jack (already one of the weakest parts), and premature failure is very likely.

Be warned that some unscrupulous sellers have hacked the players to lie about their memory size.   The maxium memory supported by the CPU is reportedly 2GB so be especially wary of players advertised as supporting 4GB, though some sellers have tried to pass off a 1GB unit as a 2GB unit.   The hacked players become corrupted when you try to fill more than the true memory size.   However, some of the newer chips may support 4GB, but there don't seem to be actual products on the market based on those.  Part of the scam appears to be that people order a player that says it is size X, they turn it on and it says it is size X, and they download some files but not enough to fill it up and it appears to work so they leave positive feedback.  There are a couple sellers on ebay who have over a hundred 4GB player listings, each, and both have 98% positive feedback but if you look at the 2% negative freedback there are multiple reports of 1GB players being sold as 4GB.  Neither is an exact match against the  blacklist, but one of the names does match the black list except for the digits at the end.

Unscrupulous sellers of these players also try to lead people into thinking they are buying an iPod Nano or
a Sandisk Player.   Some of the units look a lot like the Nano.   For example, one ebay seller (selling hacked "4GB" players) included iPod in the auction names on the grounds that the player came with a free gift - a tube sock which fit iPod Nanos as well as their player.    And some of the sellers advertise Sandisk flash in
the auction name, on the grounds that the player contains a flash chip made by Sandisk, in order to
create the impression you were getting a SanDisk player; face it, if Sandisk didn't sell players, would
anyone care who made the flash chip?

Beware of firmware downloads; often people download firmware for the wrong player and mess up their devices.

These players are mostly based on the ATJ2085 or similar chips from actions semiconductor which have a Z-80 compatible CPU, DSP, DAC, ADC, LCD interface, USB, RAM, etc.

One company that sells many of these models, in various memory capacities and colors, is uXcell, and I have linked to their site.   They appear to support the third party support site, mympxplayer.org.   Unfortunately, they don't have a comparison table, so I made my own:

Comparison Table

PlayerPrice
memory		SD CardScreen SizeNative AudioNative VideoNative PictureLinuxRadioBatteryEbookHead
phone
Jack		Voice RecordLyricsExtra FeaturesSizePlayer
Fantasia
1GB $60
2GB $80		No1.8" 128x96MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAV ?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4 (USB drive)FMLi-Ion, 6-8Hr audio playback.txt2.5mmbuilt in micID3
Speakers		28g, 70mm x 39mm x 8mmFantasia
Full Metal Platinum 1.81GB $43
2GB $57		No1.8" 160x128MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAV?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4 (USB drive)FMLi-Ion
8hr MP3
USB or charger		.txt3.5mmbuilt in micID340g
91mm x 41mm x 8mm		Full Metal Platinum 1.8
Full Metal Platinum1GB $36
2GB $50		No1.5" TFT
128x96
MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAV?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4 (USB drive)FMLi-Ion
8hr MP3
USB or charger		.txt3.5mmbuilt in micID343g
89mm x 43mm x 9mm		Full Metal Platinum
Super i-Platinum1GB $40
2GB $53		No1.8"MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, ACTAMVJPEG, GIF, SWFProbablyFMLiOn, 4hr, USB or chargeryes2.5mmyes, mic???45g
90mm x 70mm x 7mm		Super i-Platinum
The image “http://www.uxcell.com/uxcell/images/item/medium/ux_mv0blk2048mp039_ux_m.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.Glacier1GB $48
2GB $56		No2" TFT
128x96		MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAV ?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF 2.4 (USB drive)FMDetachable Li-ion battery (nokia)
USB or charger
8hour		.txt3.5mmbuilt in micID3Speaker49g
74mm x 42mm x 13mm		Glacier
Bianca1GB $43
2GB $55		No1.8" TFT
160x120		MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAVAMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4 (USB drive)FMLi-Ion, 8hrs, USB or charger.txt3.5mmbuilt in micID3Games?35g, 68mm x 40mm x 10mmBianca
Black Hawk1GB $110Yes up to 2GBAMVASFJPEGprobably (USB drive)no1600mA (sic) Li-Ion, 4-6 hours.txt3.5mmbuilt in micID3NES Games, 1.3MB camera, speaker, NTSC/PAL A/V out106g
122mm x 64mm x 16mm		Black Hawk
i-Platinum1GB $34
2GB $47		1.5"MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, ACTAMVJPEG, GIF, SWF probably, (USB drive)FMLi-Ion, 4hr USB or chargeryes2.5mmyes, Mic?ID3clock, phone book45g
90mm X 40mm X 7mm		i-Platinum
Magnesium512MB $80up to 2GB2.5"MP3, MPG, MPEG I, MEG II, WMA, ASF, WAV, ACT ?ASFJPEG probably (USB drive)no4-6hr, charger,
USB charge???		.txt3.5mmbuilt in micID31.3MP camera, camcorder,
NTSC/PAL A/V out		75g
87mm x 58mm x 13mm		Magnesium
Mirage1GB $50
2GB $68		no1.5"MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, ACT ??AMVJPEG, GIF, SWFprobably (USB drive)FMLi-Ion, 5 hoursyes2.5mmyes, mic???speaker43g, 74mm x 40mm x 10mmMirage
MP4 Watch1GB $80
2GB $100
512MB $70
256MB $60		1.5" OLED
128x128		MP3?NXVRAWnorechargable 6-8hrno?2.5mmyes, mic???ID3clock51g,
40mm x 39mm x 12mm		MP4-Watch
Osmium1GB $45
2GB $57		2" TFT
220x176		MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAV ?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4 (USB drive)FMrechargable, 8hr
.txt2.5mmyes, micID3Line in, speaker
44g
74mm x 45mm x 12mm		Osmium
Palladium1GB $60
2GB $70		2" TFT
220x176		MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAVAMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4
(USB drive)		FMrechargable, 7hr.txt3.5mmyes, micID3speaker46g
66mm x 46mm x 12mm
Palladium
Radium512MB $80Yes to 2GB2.5" TFTMP3, MPG, MPEG I, MEG II, WMA, ASF, WAV, ACT ?ASFJPEGprobably (USB drive)norechargable, 4-6hr, 8hr.txt3.5mmyes, micID31.3MP Camera,
dictionary, camcorder (ASF), NTSC/PAL A/V out,
A/V in		104g, 90mm x 48mm x 13mmRadium
Rhodium256MB $60mini-SD
up to 1GB, maybe 2GB		2" TFT
220x176		MP1, MP2, MP3.WMA.WMV, ASF WAV ?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF 2.4
(USB drive)		FMLi-Ion, 8hours, USB or charger.txt3.5mmyes, micID3speaker78mm x 48mm x 15mmRhodium
Pearl Z2GB $60
1GB $56		no1.8" TFTMP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, ACT ?AMVJPEG, GIF, SWF2.4 (USB drive)FMLi-Ion, 8hr, USB or charger.txt2.5mmyes, mic???ID3
45g,
88mm x 40mm x 8mm		Pearl Z

i-Platinum Junior		1GB $25
2GB $49		no1.5"MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, ACTAMVJPEG, GIF, SWFprobably (USB drive)FMLi-ion, 4hrs MP3,yes3.5mmyes, mic???ID3clock, telephone book42g
77mm x 36mm x 8mm		i-Platinum Junior
i-Nickel1GB $37
2GB $50		no1.5"MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, ACT AMVPICprobably (USB drive)FMLi-Ion, 5hours, charger, USB charge???yes3.5mmyes,
mic???		ID3stainless steel, telephone book45g,
68mm x 40mm x 5mm		i-Nickel
Digital Camera MARS DS312732MB $140SD/MMC up to 2GB3" TFTWAV?????????norechargable, 4-8hours, 3.7V nokia compatibleno?3.5mm?
Shared with A/V out		yes, mic???no?camera, camcorder, TV-out NTSC/PAL, webcam112g, 94mm x 58mm x 18.5mmDigial Camera MARS DS2127

Links


Archos Players

Some Archos player configurations  support USB Storage Class and with DVR station USB host port with Picture Transfer Protocol, and Media Transport Protocol.  PDF reader doesn't support all PDF features.

Linux based Media Players

OpenMoko

OpenMoko is a project for creating an open linux based GSM smarphone.

Apple iPods

iPods can only play DRM'ed music from the iTunes store, not stores that use protected WMA or Helix DRM.
Not that DRM is a good thing, but this is a case of vender lock in.   And it works both ways, you can't play
your iTunes purchased DRM music on WMA players.   At least with WMA, you can switch player brands.
Look to stores like eMusic that don't use DRM.

Now the iPhone looks very interesting.    However, Jobs said that apple has over 200 patents on the phone features and intends to enforce those.    This is a serious problem.   None of the described features of the phone seem like an original inovation.     They have combined a large number of features people have been asking for and that have mostly already been seen in other products in one product.   Jobs gave examples of prior Apple
"innovations": the mouse (prior art: xerox star) and the click wheel (prior art: dymo p-touch).   Even the name of the product was stolen (cisco has already filed suit).    So, in the long run, Apple may be less of a company who is bringing you a true all in one and more of one who is preventing other companies from doing it.    The iPhone apparently lacks some important all in one features such as the open audio format  Ogg Vorbis, the lossless audio format FLAC, GPS, SD/MMC cards, ability to work on other cell phone networks (GSM coverage is poor in US and CA), VoIP, removable battery, camera flash and zoom lens, a keyboard, protection for the touch screen, RSS readers, barcode and RFID, high speed GSM data standards (HSDPA, HSUPA), etc.   And most importantly, the iPhone will not accept third-party applications. Apple is already going after not only people who have made iPhone looking skins for other phones but even bloggers who have mentioned them.   One nice feature that the iPhone has that users have been waiting for but other US cell phone manufacturers and networks haven't worked to create is random access voice mail.

Someone mentioned that Helio has Drift integrated communicators that have GPS and the ability to optionally show your location on  maps on your friends phones and other social networking features.  Helio is a virtual network operator (it's really reselling sprint service)



Zune

This is a Microsoft product, beware.   Microsoft is trying to create vendor lock in again.    Zune can't play DRMed songs from any other music store than their own and Zune purchased music can't be played on any other brand of music.   Zune won't even play music from microsoft's older MSN Music store.  One interesting feature  is that Zune players can  beam some songs to  other zune players or XBOX 360 via WiFi; the  songs expire (that is not a bad application for DRM).   However, it can't even use WiFi to connect to your PC or surf the net and beamed songs are protected and expire even if the material is self-recorded, copyright free, or if you are beaming from one player you own to another.   Unlike most media players, the Zune cannot be used as a USB hard drive.   Even though zune has an FM radio, it cannot record from FM to disk.   Zune players do not work with MacOSX or Linux.   Zune market share peaked at #2 for one week and has declined since.

SanDisk

The sandisk website is short on specifications.

Creative

Creative has threatened to sue other music player manufacturers and did sue Apple, for violation of Patents on trivial user interface features.

RCA

Samsung

PDAs

Don't forget that most modern PDAs can do everything that a high end flash based player can do, and more.  They won't hold as much music or video as a hard drive based player.   Zaurus, Tungsten, iPAQ, etc.  They are typically more expensive than a media player only.   Typically, you will use the SD card slot to hold your media.  Check battery life.   Add the cost of an SD card to hold your music/video/podcasts.

There are also subnotebooks and ultra mobile PCs (UMPC).

Cell Phones

Some cell phones include media player functionality.

Portable DVD players

Some portable DVD players may also play audio and video files.   With appropriate software, you could also master a DVD which would play on any portable DVD player.   Larger and Heaver than most Portable Media Players.   

Add a thumb keyboard, memory, TV and FM tuners, screen blanking (to extend battery life when playing audio), SD card slot, wifi, bluetooth, and Linux (such as knoppix) to a portable DVD player and you would have a reasonable media player and PDA that would be about as much of a brick as my first portable CD player.   Basically a compact laptop.

Misc