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Boosted by online MP3 file-share sites such as Napster, MP3 players have quickly become more of a necessity than a luxury

I'm not normally a gadget person, cell phone fixation aside. Before. I'll even consider buying some bit of electronic gimmickry, it has to offer some sort of functionality I can persuade myself, without too much effort, that I can't live without.

Pagers and personal digital assistants are pointless, as far as I'm concerned. But MP3 players? These little gizmos, boosted by the explosion of online music-swapping sites such as Napster, are without a doubt the most important technological breakthrough since putting men on the moon.

Unlike its predecessors, the portable cassette and CD players, the MP3 player comes in a bewildering array of formats, configurations and prices, and picking the right one for you can be a daunting task.

Some feature built-in hard drives with a fixed amount of memory; others have a small internal memory and/or external Compact Flash card slots. The Iomega HipZip uses its own proprietary rewritable discs, while others, like the SonicBlue RioVolt, are really CD players that play MP3 files.

For this review looked at the HipZip, the Samsung Uproar (a combination cell phone/MP3 player from Telus Mobility) and the RioVolt.

Alas, as I have discovered, while each has its attractions, no single device will meet every user's needs.

Let's start with the HipZip.

Fitting nicely in the palm of your hand, this first-generation HipZip uses Iomega's 40 Mb Clik discs, which store about 40 minutes, or the length of a typical CD, of digital music per disc. Iomega Corp. has announced that the updated version, due out this fall, will use the PocketZip 100 Mb platform. The 100 Mb discs will be available at the same price as the 40 Mb discs -- roughly US$10 each in -- packages of 10.

Listing as of press time on the Future Shop Web site at $449, this MP3 player is not cheap. In fact, it's only $50 less than the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox, which offers a 6 GB hard drive. The advantage of the HipZip, however, is that it's much smaller and lighter. And, theoretically, the HipZip's storage capacity is limitless, although it would take a lot of 40 meg discs to hit 6 gigs.

Compared to other devices that allow minimal expansion (usually up to 128 Mb) through the use of expensive Flash cards, the HipZip is still a bargain at least compared to many other players currently available.

For me, the promise of an MP3 player is that it offers total portability. This means you should be able to use it for any mobile activity. If I can't run or cycle with it, it's not a mobile device, at least not for me. That's where the HipZip shines. Easy to carry and navigate, this player offers excellent sound and an abundance of features, such as the ability to create playlists, a backlit LCD screen which displays the track number, name of the song and the artist, and a variety of equalizer options. You can jump up, down and all around and it won't a beat.

Unlike the RioVolt and the Uproar, the HipZip uses the type of headphones that wrap around your ears. But the headphones don't have a remote control like the others have, so you have to navigate the device itself, which can be somewhat awkward if you're on the move.

All three of the devices come with easy-to-install and use MusicMatch Jukebox software, which allows you to drag and drop songs into a playlist, which you then export to the device via a USB cable.

The RioVolt, a CD-based MP3 player, is the least expensive of the three not only in terms of initial purchase price -- it sells for about $300 in Canada -- but also in terms of storage. You can fit about 150 MP3 music files onto one blank CD, which costs about $1, for about 10 hours of music. You can't beat that. And you can download firmware upgrades from the RioVolt Web site.

While the RioVolt also has excellent sound quality and pretty much the same features as the HipZip (a backlit LCD screen, song and title display, equalizer options, etc.), I found that it didn't meet my mobile requirements, at least for exercise purposes.

Because it's a CD player, it will skip when jostled, despite its 120-second shock resistance. I couldn't run with it. Even cycling made it jump around.

It's also fairly sizeable, which also makes it less than ideal as an exercise companion.

That, I suppose, is to be expected; it is, after all, a CD player. But for anyone who plans to travel, it's the perfect choice -- you could collapse a relatively large CD collection onto a few CD-Rs, rather than lugging around hundreds of CDs.

While the RioVolt has its strong points, navigating is not one of them. This player lets you jump 10 songs ahead, but not back. Nor does it remember where you were when you shut the unit off. You'd think that a unit designed for CDs with 100-plus songs would make navigation much easier.

The Samsung SPH M100 Uproar which Telus Mobility recently introduced for $374.99 after a promotional credit, is a dual-mode cell phone/64-Mb MP3 player that comes in a teensyweensy little silver package.

The greatest thing about this unit is not just that it's an excellent MP3 player, but that it's integrated so well with the phone features. If a call comes in while you're listening to music, you'll hear the ring over the earphones and can speak into the top of the phone without removing your headset.

The only drawback that I found is that the earphones are also bud-style and absolutely will not stay in without being held captive by the wearing of a geeky headband. It would be better if the remote control were designed like the RioVolt's, which allows you to plug alternative earphones into the remote itself rather than the unit.

And the 64 Mb limit, which provides about an hour of music, is just that. There are no expansion slots, so you're forced to go back to your desktop fairly frequently if you want to vary your music lists. But an hour is probably the perfect length if you don't mind the constant downloading of new music.

In all, I would recommend each of these devices, but for different purposes.

The first step in buying an MP3 player is deciding what you want it for and which device meets that need at the best price.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Plesman Publications
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group