Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. Normally, they refer to small, battery-powered devices utilising flash memory or a hard disk for storing various media files. MP3 players has been a popular alternative name used for such devices, even if they also support other file formats and media types other than MP3.
Generally speaking, PMPs are equipped with a 3.5 mm headphone jack which can be used for headphones or to connect to a boombox, home audio system, or connect to car audio and home stereos wired or via a wireless connection such as Bluetooth, and some may include radio tuners, voice recording and other features. In contrast, analogue portable audio players play music from non-digital media that use analogue media, such as cassette tapes or vinyl records. As devices became more advanced, the PMP term was later introduced to describe players with additional capabilities such as video playback. The PMP term has also been used as an umbrella name to describe any portable device for multimedia, including physical formats or handheld game consoles with such capabilities.
DAPs appeared in the late 1990s, following the creation of the MP3 codec in Germany. MP3-playing devices were mostly pioneered by South Korean startups, who by 2002 would control the majority of global sales. However, the industry would eventually be defined by the popular Apple iPod. In 2006, 20% of Americans owned a PMP, a figure strongly driven by the young; more than half of American teens owned one, as did 30% of young adults aged 18 to 34. In 2007, 210 million PMPs were sold worldwide, worth US$19.5 billion. In 2008, video-enabled players would overtake audio-only players. Increasing sales of smartphones and tablet computers have led to a decline in sales of PMPs, leading to most manufacturers having exited the industry during the 2010s. Sony Walkman continues to be in production and portable DVD and BD players, which may be considered variations of PMPs, are still manufactured. The global portable media player market was valued at USD 26.42 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to USD 36.24 billion by 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.9%.
Types
The term portable media player generally refers to playback of digital audio files rather than directly on tape or disc.Flash memory
, PMPs tend to store such files on internal flash memory or removable flash memory cards, both of which are non-mechanical solid state devices. Due to technological advances in flash memory, these originally low-capacity storage devices are now available commercially, ranging up to high storage capacities. Because they are solid state and do not have moving parts, they require less battery power, will not skip during playback, and may be more resilient to hazards such as mechanical shock or fragmentation than hard disk drive-based players.Hard drive
As recently as 2010, hard disk drive based players were common. At the time, these players had capacities ranging up to 500 GB. At typical encoding rates, this means that tens of thousands of songs can be stored on one player. The disadvantages with these units is that a hard drive consumes more power, is larger and heavier and is inherently more fragile than solid-state storage.Other types
s that can decode and play MP3 audio files stored on CDROMs are also effectively MP3 players. When the first units of these were released, such players were typically a less expensive alternative than either the hard drive or flash-based players. The blank CD-R media they use is inexpensive. These devices have the feature of being able to play standard audio CDs. Since a CD can typically hold only around 700 megabytes of data, a large library will typically require multiple discs. However, some higher-end units are also capable of reading and playing back files stored on larger-capacity DVD; some also have the ability to play video content, such as movies.Players that connect via network to receive and play audio can also be considered PMPs. These units typically do not have significant local storage and must rely on a server, typically a personal computer also on the same network, to provide the audio files for playback. Smartphones can also be considered PMPs as they have most of the media functions of a typical PMP.
Operation
is used to convert an audio wave to a sequence of binary numbers that can be stored in a digital format, such as MP3. Common features of all MP3 players are a memory storage device, such as flash memory or a miniature hard disk drive, an embedded processor, and an audio codec microchip to convert the compressed file into an analogue sound signal. During playback, audio files are read from storage into a RAM based memory buffer, and then streamed through an audio codec to produce decoded PCM audio. Typically audio formats decode at double to more than 20 times real speed on portable electronic processors, requiring that the codec output be stored for a time until the DAC can play it. To save power, portable devices may spend much or nearly all of their time in a low power idle state while waiting for the DAC to deplete the output PCM buffer before briefly powering up to decode additional audio.Most DAPs are powered by rechargeable batteries, some of which are not user-replaceable. They have a 3.5 mm stereo jack; music can be listened to with earbuds or headphones, or played via an external amplifier and speakers. Some devices also contain internal speakers, through which music can be listened to, although these built-in speakers are typically of very low quality.
Display and interface
Nearly all DAPs consists of some kind of display screen, although there are exceptions, such as the iPod Shuffle, and a set of controls with which the user can browse through the library of music contained in the device, select a track, and play it back. The display, if the unit even has one, can be anything from a simple one or two line monochrome LCD display, similar to what are found on typical pocket calculators, to large, high-resolution, full-color displays capable of displaying photographs or viewing video content on. The controls can range anywhere from the simple buttons as are found on most typical CD players, such as for skipping through tracks or stopping/starting playback to full touch-screen controls, such as that found on the iPod Touch or the Zune HD. One of the more common methods of control is some type of the scroll wheel with associated buttons. This method of control was first introduced with the Apple iPod and many other manufacturers have created variants of this control scheme for their respective devices.A standard PMP uses a 5-way D-pad to navigate. Many alternatives have been used, most notably the wheel and touch mechanisms seen on players from the iPod and Sansa series. Another popular mechanism is the swipe-pad, or 'squircle', first seen on the Zune. Additional buttons are commonly seen for features such as volume control.
Syncing and software
Content is placed on DAPs typically through a process called "syncing", by connecting the device to a personal computer, typically via USB, and running any special software that is often provided with the DAP on a CD-ROM included with the device, or downloaded from the manufacturer's website. Some devices simply appear as an additional disk drive on the host computer, to which music files are simply copied like any other type of file. Other devices, most notably the Apple iPod or Microsoft Zune, requires the use of special management software, such as iTunes or Zune Software, respectively. Over the years, increasingly the players were natively recognised by the operating system through Universal Mass Storage or Media Transfer Protocol.The music, or other content such as TV episodes or movies, is added to the software to create a "library". The library is then "synced" to the DAP via the software. The software typically provides options for managing situations when the library is too large to fit on the device being synced to. Such options include allowing manual syncing, in that the user can manually "drag-n-drop" the desired tracks to the device, or allow for the creation of playlists. In addition to the USB connection, some of the more advanced units are now starting to allow syncing through a wireless connection, such as via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Content can also be obtained and placed on some DAPs, such as the iPod Touch or Zune HD by allowing access to a "store" or "marketplace", most notably the iTunes Store or Zune Marketplace, from which content, such as music and video, and even games, can be purchased and downloaded directly to the device.