The Ultimate Guide to MP4 Players (Part 1)

It feels like just yesterday that I bought an iPod Nano MP3 clone MP4 player off of eBay. In fact, it was several weeks ago that I bought this mp4 player, but I've since then become really interested in the "other side" of the portable media and audio business. Before I confuse anyone, let me explain what I mean when referring to the "other side" in regards to iPods, Zune, iRiver, and other digital media players.

I was searching on eBay for a good deal on a real iPod Nano 2GB model. As expected, eBay will save you a few dollars here and there on these name brand iPod models, but it's really hard to find an incredible bargain, although these do exist. Imagine my surprise when I came across what looked like an iPod 2GB for only $40! After some more careful searching, I found that it wasn't a real iPod, but a clone that looked exactly like the Nano, and that it supposedly played not only MP3 and other audio files like the real Nano, but that it also played videos (hence the name MP4), and had a larger screen. Excited, but still skeptical, I did my research through search engines like Blingo, and looked more for these MP4 players on eBay.

It turns out that there are many, many MP4 and MP3 players, some clones, and some just unique models. Most people only know of a few companies that make these media players, like iRiver, Zune, Sandisk, and, of course, the over-hyped iPods from Apple. However, many of the clone models, and other models sold on eBay and online are from smaller Asian companies, many of which are made in China, alongside real Apple iPods in factories. They (the small companies MP3 and MP4 players) cost less than larger brand-name companies models, but often have a wide range of features.

Digging a little deeper online, I searched for reviews of these MP4 players, and found very few. Few tech websites even talked about these clone models, although I was able to scrounge up a few reviews on some blogs. Finally, I came across a couple of helpful MP4 and MP3 player forums for these 'China Players" and found more reviews.