The popularity of portable devices has spread far and wide. With more areas being covered by WiFi (wireless Internet access), portable devices become even more attractive. Portable devices include laptops, netbooks or the Ultra Mobile PC and portable media players. There are special softwares that can easily convert audio and video into the digital format for use in these portable devices. They are becoming indispensable gadgets at work, leisure and entertainment. The portable gadgets include digital audio players, digital video recorders, portable video players and personal digital assistant.
The portable media player is also an electronic gadget that plays digital media which it stores. Basically it is a portable audio player with the added facility of displaying images and playing videos. Mobile phones which can also store and play audio files, and display images and play videos are also categorized as portable media player. Archos, a portable media player, was the first one of its kind to be successfully marketed in 2002. Most of the portable media players have MP3 audio format while some also support other formats such as WAV, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC).
Usually the images are displayed using LCD or OLED screen. Some players can record video using accessories. JPEG format is compatible on all players for display of images. Other file formats such as TIFF, PNG and GIF are compatible on some players such as the iPod series. Most of these players support MPEG-4 video format while some others are compatible with Windows Media Video (WMV) and AVI. Most players are able to transfer files between the player and the computer. Many electronic companies have been fast to bring out portable devices. Archos, a French company, for instance offers digital audio players, portable video players, digital video recorders and personal digital assistant. In 2007, the company released Archos Generation 5, a series of portable media players including Archos 705 WiFi portable media player 160 GB.
The data is stored in the microdrive, flash memory or hard drive. The storage capacity has increased to 320 GB for the hard drive based PMPs and 32 GB for flash memory PMPs. It is also possible to increase the capacity of PMPs’ storage. CompactFlash, Secure Digital card and Memory Sticks are used to transfer contents directly from external devices. The size of the screen is as much as 7 inches. Resolutions differ within players and go up to WVGA. Though the color depth is 16-bit, it could go up to 24-bit in some players. With the introduction of Touch Screens many PMPs increasingly sport this feature. Many more new features have been introduced in the PMPs in recent years such as text readers, the simple camera, game emulation and editors.
Media players have indeed underwent through a major transformation. People no longer watch movies at cinemas or at home because PMPs have changed people’s lifestyles.
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