Before the development of the MP3 file format and subsequently a player for this format the most common form of digital music device was the personal portable CD player, however this had serious limitations, particularly in terms of size where it was restricted to the proportions of the CD. The size restrictions of this inaugural device led to the development of a player with a hard drive.

It was from this point onwards that a device was released that would not only revolutionise the design of MP3 players but design in other fields.

Fundamentally there are two main types of MP3 players on the market today, these are flash and hard-drive based. Flash players have no mechanical parts an instead hold the musical information on a flash memory that is either built into the device or is on a memory card. While in the early years of DAPs flash devices were seen as the more restricted of the two variants, modem technological advancements however have meant that flash players can hold up to around 32 GB.

Hard drive MP3 players differ from flash variants in the way that they have a mechanical drive that stores the data. In some cases hard drive players can hold as much as 250 GB of data; the benefit is that the user is able to carry their entire music collection wherever they go with ease.

Today the MP3 player is one of the most noticeable forms of technology that we see everyday. An MP3 Player is also known as a digital audio player. It is a portable consumer electronic device which stores, organises and plays audio files.

The most famous MP3 players are Winamp, Sonique and Music Match. Every MP3 player interprets music differently but all of them use same code for playing the MP3 files.

The simplest type of MP3 file uses one bit rate for the entire file, it is also called Constant Bit Rate encoding. There are some files which are also known as Variable Bit Rate files where the bit rate changes throughout the files.

An MP3 file is made up of multiple MP3 frames which consist of the MP3 header and the MP3 data. An MP3 player is definitely an evolution in music formats which have helped the consumers to enjoy their favourite music.