There are so many MP3 players out there, how do you know what to look for when you’re out shopping? One of the first things to decide is how much you want the player to hold. If you are using it for music, how many songs do you want on it? Gigabites(GB) are the units in which the memory is measured. The more GB, the more songs the player will hold. A model with 80GB will store up to 20,000 songs, while a model with 2GB will store about 500.

Knowing your budget helps too- the more memory, the higher the price tag.

In general, models with more memory use microdrive technology. Microdrive technology is basically a tiny little harddrive with a spinning disc and a magnetic head reading it. These MP3s have moving pieces that can be damaged by shaking. You might want to go for a solid state model like the Sansa Shaker or others that are less likely to be damaged if used while exercising- or if you plan to loan it to your kids.