Usually utilising 'flash' memory technology or a miniature hard disk, MP3 players are like miniature hard disks with an mp3 playing capability. These devices are what are commonly referred to as DAPs: digital audio players. Plugging into your PC's USB slot, they extract the music onto a miniature hard disk or memory card, and play it back via headphones or specially-made speakers. These can also be plugged into your car using an mp3-to-tape adapter
Most of these also contain an LCD display like the CD player - only the very cheapest ones use a purely button-led control system. The LCD display models support directory-driven MP3 storage, ID3 tags, and all the other features that you'd expect from a CD system.
Memory cards are interchangeable and tend to be quite small in both physical size and data capacity; hard drives are equally as diminutive in dimension but larger in terms of file storage capability. However, they usually can't be interchanged freely as flash memory cards can be.
The hard drives or flash memory cards can also be used to store data, handy if you want to take a large file from work or school to your home PC. Some also feature such additions as digital cameras or voice recorders - at an added price, of course. Even more impressive is the Apple iPod, which combines some features of a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) such as a calendar and alarm clock, with MP3 and sound wave file playback capability. And recently released in the UK was the iPod nano with a 8 GB harddisk and smaller size than the standard iPod.
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