6 movies, 38 podcasts, 3841 songs, 3 audiobooks, 361 pictures – this is what is on my iPod at the moment. If you had told me a few years back that I would carry all this in a device the size of a ciggie box I would have laughed….plus, I’ve still got about 80GB free space.

ALL your media – ALL the time….. I love that I can listen while running, sneak it into a friend’s sound dock (when I’m tired of their Roxette revival) and play it in my car using my iTrip.

The first portable audio devices were tape walkmans (I had a nice pink one) and then portable Discmans (only the seriously fancy kids at school seemed to have them.) The depressing thing is that most of you reading this have probably never seen a real Walkman or Discman.

The first commercially available Digital Audio Players (DAP) were developed in 1998 in Korea and had a whopping storage capacity of 32MB, um, ja, about 9 songs. In 2001 Apple produced the first iPod with a capacity of 5GB -  this was a pretty big deal in DAPs that made the world sit up and take notice. At that stage 5GB was huge if you consider that in the late 90’s we upgraded our desktop computer at home; the new one had a hard drive of 2 GB, which at that stage was massive! Back then we weren’t really properly hooked up to the web so we weren’t downloading movies or games or songs…. we were playing PC games and my folks were saving their tax returns (created in MS DOS nogal :) )

Now my iPod has a hard drive that’s almost as big as my MacBook which is why mp3 flash drives and players have become much more than just a device for playing music – for many people it serves as a useful backup tool also.

I’ve picked 5 mp3 player ranges that suit different wallets and different multimedia needs.

If you’re longing for an iPod of your own we’re giving away two NEW 4GB iPod shuffles – check the end of the post to see how you can win.

iPods 

The generic term for mp3 players, one of the very first players to market the iPod has become the name in portable music players…. often copied by many cheaper brands. 1GB to 120GB – choose from shuffle, nano, classic, iTouch…whatever suits your taste, your storage needs and your wallet.

ZuneHD 

The new ZuneHD looks very, very hot. This music and video player features HD Radio, wireless syncing and 10 hours HD Video. You can also surf the web using a full-featured browser and touchscreen QWERTY keyboard. They are priced at a high price point (around 4k for the 32GB player.) They are due in SA in the middle of September and I think they’ll prove to be a real contender in the iPod dominated market.

SanDisk Sansa

SanDisk offer 8 different music players ranging between R470 – R2700. They’re pretty stylish looking players and perfect if you want to listen to your music on the go but aren’t hung up on the more expensive brands or quite simply can’t afford to shell out more cash.

Transcend T.sonic

Video and music players ranging in size and at very affordable prices. The video mp3 player is probably the closest iPod imitation (Nano shape) you’ll find on the market. Check out the link for more details on costs and models available.

Sony Walkman

The ‘Walkman’ was the term for any portable music player back in the 80s – if you wanted to listen to your tapes or CDs while you were on the move then the Walkman was the best offering. Since then Sony have obviously moved waaay ahead and their range of walkman video and mp3 players are slick, small and stylish. They have several models that cost anywhere between R600 and around R1300 depending on which model you want and if you are interested in video or not.

We’re giving away two NEW 4GB iPod shuffles.

This is the first music player that talks to you.

It is half the size of the previous generation but with an improved 4GB of storage, it now holds up to 1,000 songs, and lets you enjoy multiple playlists, too. With the press of a button, it tells you what song is playing and who is performing it. It can even tell you the names of your playlists, giving you a new way to navigate your music. 

To win one of these hot new 4GB iPod shuffles tell us in the comments section, what is your favourite tune to exercise to?

Anonymous comments are not eligible and will be deleted.

Competition closes Friday 28th, prize winners will be selected in a random draw. Duplicate comments were deleted as per usual.

The TWO WINNERS ARE:

Katharina van der Walt and Yusuf Ahmed CONGRATS - we'll be in touch.