Alright, so you've earned up enough to get that mp3 player you were looking forward to getting. But now, which one should you pick? Do you want to go with a basic mp3 player or do you want to try for a video player? What about durability? I wrote this up to give people a quick overview on the most popular of media players out there, letting you see which one is best for you.

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On the first look, the Ipod Video looks to be a beautiful break-through in American MP3 Players. A slick look, 60 gigs of storage and an incredibly clear LCD screen. However, for it's high price, the iPod Vid isn't all it's cracked up to be. First off, there have been numerous reports of certain video files having troubles in the player, and it seems to have difficulties even after using a third party converter. The new Pod retains its style by being thin and light, while being very portable. Consequently, this small compact style sacrifices screen size, and makes the iPod hard on the eyes. Certain videos also seem to have a slight delay, making the visual aspect of the player seem a bit choppy. As a whole, the iPod 60 GB Video is a very nice music player, with very easy browsing and smooth play, but falls short of being up to the standard of a video player, with a short battery life for viewing videos. Add that up with it's high price, and the iPod Video isn't ready to be America's new video player.

This is one of the viable alternatives to the everyday iPod Video is the iAudio X5L, which offers 30 gigs of storage, video play, photo viewing and the ever popular ability to view text files, which is especially convenient for students. Like the iPod, the iAudio has certain compatibility issues with videos, even after third party programs are used. The sizes are about equal, but the X5L comes with a few extra handy features, such as direct to folder uploading, so customers don't need to install an iTunes-like program. This way you don't have to worry about ID3 tags, and your songs being placed in the wrong folders. The screen may be a bit smaller than that of the iPod's, but the iAudio X5L has an exceptionally clear screen, accompanied with smooth video play. A very portable player, which allows you to listen to and watch your media in style. Despite the few flaws it has, and the fact that it is a bit pricey for 30 gigs of storage, the iAudio x5L seems to have what the iPod Video is missing, and is a great substitute for those who like to break away from the everyday iPod.

Preformance-wise, Creative has really hit it right on the money with this player. This player shows great audio and video quality, and seems to draw few complaints from users. The reason you won't see many of these around is because Version M seems to have missed out on a major component of the mp3 market ; Style. The Creative Zen Vision:M player has a formidable screen size, and is roughly the size of a 60 gig apple iPod, it is much thicker. Even the black model is very lacklustre in comparison to both the iPod and the iAudio. Another noticeable flaw is the fact that there is no replaceable battery, something that has been under close watch from potential mp3 player consumers who are thinking about the long term of their media player. Again, the price here is a bit high for 30 gigs of storage space, but this player is well equipped, and cannot be beaten on the performance platform.

Well of course, the last player I'll be reviewing is the widely advertised iPod Nano, which has replaced the iPod Mini. Well, although it has to be one of the best looking mp3 players on the market, the Nano is not exactly the most cost efficient. The iPod Nano is unfortunately very over-priced, for a rather simple player. Because of the use of flash memory, there is no skipping to worry about. The one major flaw here is the limited battery life. It seems Apple opted for style over durability in this case, and forfeited what could have been a somewhat over-priced, but simple and elegant mp3 player.