CK Ng

Are you always on the move? Need entertainment while you’re at the gym, mountain hiking, or even sky diving? Well, if you’re a person who’s actively involved in outdoor activities, and love having music as your companion, having an iPod Video hanging around your neck may not be the brightest idea.

Did you know?
Flash based MP3 players were the original ancestors to our current crop of multimedia players. Back in the old days, the thought of using hard disks to run an MP3 hadn’t struck dear Steve Jobs, and the most portable form of memory was flash memory often found in computers. If you’ve bothered to read my column, I’ve mentioned the world’s first MP3 player before. Since I want a popularity check on how much you guys like reading my stuff (at least a few, I hope), you’ll just have to refer to back-issues for its name (refer to the February issue), and that was based on 32MB of flash memory.

Flash It Around
Flash based players are designed to shown off, well that’s what I think, which explains why the design of today’s MP3 player is given priority over its functionality. You’ll tend to find flash based players with better fashion sense than those with the ol’ bulky hard disks. Hanging a cool-looking MP3 player around your neck guarantees a few glances coming your way, even if you look like a dork. If you’re into tight jeans, sleekly designed MP3 players like the iPod Nano which is almost as slim as two stacked credit cards fits perfectly into those tight pockets without much protrusion.

Drop me, please
Unlike hard disk-based players, built like a wristwatch with delicate moving parts, flash-based players are based on solid state memory which is highly resistant to impact if dropped (not that I suggest you to do so). Because it has no moving parts, there’s no risk in music skipping with frequent impact or movement.
With no movement, less battery power is consumed, which is why flash-based players tend to have a battery life of up to 30 to 50 hours on a single charge, or the life of a single battery cell; which is almost twice as long as hard disk-based ones.

With Great Power comes Great Price Tag
That’s what Spiderman’s uncle Ben would say if our favourite web-swinging hero gets an MP3 player to go with his usual routine of swinging around catching criminals. Unfortunately, this is the main disadvantage of flash based players: the price. They have the highest per-megabyte cost compared to hard disk-based players. Memory size is also another key factor affecting the value of flash based players, with the current maximum capacity of 4GB. Heck, Spiderman doesn’t make a living out of catching crooks you know; he has a tight budget too. 

The King of Them All: MobiBlu B153
Why do Americans and Koreans always come up with devices which make you go gaga, yet never reach our shores? Another typical example for us to adore with envy is the MobiBlu B153, currently available only in the USA. It has an unrivalled battery life of up to 150 hours, putting all other brands into shame. Anything that’s been tested by yours truly doesn’t even have half its battery life. Oh well, looks like the only way to get my hands on one is through eBay, or pray that our favourite MW editor gets me a review unit, uhh, I mean for everyone to toy around with.

Bottomline (But where’s the flash players I tested?)
There really isn’t much difference between the battery life of flash based players, so there’s no point of me compiling list of choices for you guys. Some people prefer to use alkaline batteries in their MP3 players, while others prefer built-in batteries to save the trouble of replacing them every now and then. In the end it’s all down to personal preference of whether you want the sex appeal, battery life, or features. For example, go for the iPod Nano if you’re the fashion-conscious type, the Sony NW-E500 for battery longevity, and the iRiver U10 for a feature-rich player. Just remember your priority to choose something which fits your budget, not your pocket. 

P/S: For those who don’t have the February copy, you can always check it out from our website at www.mobileworld.com.my

CK is hoping for a big price drop with MP3 players. Those who think otherwise can drop him a line at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it