Move to the Groove - iPods and MP3 players

Portable MP3 players and iPods are fast becoming the biggest sellers in the electronic industry mostly because of their cheap prices and because they are very handy and easy to use.

iPod is generally an MP3 player manufactured by Apple inc., but the other MP3 players manufactured by other companies are called by different names like Microsoft's Zune or the Creative Zen Mp3 player. So basically iPods and MP3 players are the same thing, only eith some similarities and some differences.

Similarities :

• Both are MP3 players.
• Both have versions whichare video capable and also those which are not video capable like the iPod shuffle.
• Both can act as external data storage devices.
• Both can be used to view pictures.
  

Differences :

• To download mp3 to an iPod from a computer, the computer has to have the iTunes software installed, but in case of other mp3 players no software is needed.
• The iPod's touch wheel is a special navigation feature. Other players do not have this. Imitation iPods are built with a slightly different click wheel used for navigation.
• An iPod does not have features like the FM Radio, which may be found on some other MP3 players.
• An iPod does not have a expandable memory slot while other players generally do.
• An iPod cannot play .wma, wmv formats while other players do.

There are many versions of the Apple's iPod. Some of them are, iPod Classic, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod touch and the iPhone. The price of iPods have gone down reasonably over the few years and cheap iPods are availlable everywhere in the electronic markets and also in online stores. Some of the most paopular mp3 players ar ethe above mentioned Microsoft Zune, the Creative Zen mp3 player, Zebronics Omega MP3DJ, Samsung YP-S5 and many more.

Buyers can go for a price comparison and also compare the features of the products to ultimately find the best suited player for themselves.