Rating The MP3 Players

Posted July 15, 1999 -- New portable music players may revolutionize the way we get and listen to music.

Consumer Reports just tested the first of several new video recorders, which let you record music from the Web and play it back later.

One of the drawbacks to listening to music downloaded from the Web is the need to stay close to your computer. Now, with these new products on the market, you can listen to Web music while on the go.

According to a Consumer Reports tester, Dean Gallea, you just plug the music player into a computer, put in the software that comes with it, and simply transfer music you've downloaded from the Web.

After testing the audio quality of several models, Rio, Nomad and MPMan, Gallea says the quality is very close to a CD player. Also, these new products have an advantage over a portable CD player - they don't skip when you jog.

At $170, the Rio by Diamond Multimedia System is the least expensive model. Gallea says, "The Rio can hold about half hour's worth of music with the internal memory. And with another $100 memory card another half-hour of music."

While the new players offer some real benefits, they don't solve one problem. Unless you have a fast Internet connection, downloading a 3-minute song from the Web can take as long as 15 minutes.

This is a fast-changing field. More expensive models of the Rio are being introduced that hold more music and several other brands have introduced similar players.

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