Insignia Sport 4GB MP3 Player Our rating:

The Insignia Sport MP3 Player is in the same price range as Apple’s iPod Shuffle, but packs quite a few more features for the price. With a spin-wheel and a thin, rectangular body, it even mimics the iPod. It’s very easy to control, even when on the run, which means the Insignia Sport lives up to its name. The Sport has an extra slot for a Micro SD card, and is even bluetooth capable. These two options as well as its ability to play videos set it in a league entirely apart from and above the iPod Shuffle. The Insignia Sport has easy-to-use menus, and can also be configured for left-handed use – a very nifty feature. The Sport makes it simple to find and play your music by artist, album, song, genre, and of course playlist, and you can also build your own “now playing” playlists on-the-spot. It also feataures a clock, an fm-radio feature, as well as a sleep timer. The video and audio quality is superb, and unlike many other MP3 players with radios, one cannot complain much about the radio quality. The only downfall is that since the player doesn’t have an external FM antenna, it must be placed somewhere where FM signals are in easy reach. The Sport is available in black, red and blue, and it looks very stylish. It’s simple, yet sleek.

Insignia’s Sport charges through a USB connection to a computer. It is very easy to transfer music onto and even comes with its own software. However, it’s also compatible with iTunes, Windows Media Player, and other common audio programs should you desire to stick with the program you’re already using. Its battery charge lasts a good 24 hours, which is very impressive. The Sport has been very reliable and did not experience any issues with music transferring or disappearing, a common issue among cheaper MP3 players. Although it did freeze a few times during normal use, it was easily restored to its normal “healthy” state upon being plugged into the computer or reset.

One downfall about the Sport is that it reconfigures and won’t return to your “Now Playing” list when unplugged from your computer. Of course, you’ll still have the playlists you have saved, but losing your currently playing list upon unplugging the device is somewhat of a nuisance. However, other than these few minor issues, the Sport is a winner across the board. It’s outstanding technological specs, durability, functionality, and design style easily make it one. Insignia, a Best Buy brand, did a very good job with the Sport MP3 Player and we not only recommend this individual device, but the manufacturer as a whole due to its cheaper price and overall good quality products.

Apple iPod Touch Our Rating:
The iPod Touch is Apple’s offering for those who want all the features of the iPhone sans phone. The Touch is by far the most feature-packed iPod Apple has to offer, offering all the functionality of a PDA or Blackberry in a sleek design and full touch screen. The current generation Touch has four external buttons: The Home button below the touch screen, the hold button at the top, and volume control on the left side. Next/previous track buttons may have been more useful but it is still better than the original touch which did not feature the volume control buttons. On the bottom is the jack for connecting the Touch to a PC or Mac via USB, and the audio input.

By default the touch comes with a standard set of apps, similar to that of the iPhone: Calendar, Photos, Videos, YouTube, Stocks, Maps, Weather, Clock, Calculator, Notes, Mail, Safari, and of course Music, iTunes, and the App Store. Within the App Store one will find hundreds of additional free and premium apps to install, from Google Earth to Quake. The presence of a built-in YouTube player and the largest screen out of any iPod make it the best choice for watching video. The Touch comes in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB sizes, so there is bound to be one for everyone.

The Touch does have its downsides. The lack of more external buttons could make it a hassle to have to skip through songs. A much-needed App is a built-in instant messenger. There are several choices from third parties in the App store, but this is such a popular feature that it should definitely be added. However these are small problems when compared to how much the Touch has to offer.

Apple’s iPod Touch is definitely one of the best portable media devices available today, and short of owning an iPhone it’d be hard to find a device to beat it.