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How often do you need to be entertained? If the answer is a lot, then a new breed of handheld, the portable media player, could be just the thing you need to make your life complete.

These mobile devices go way beyond the capabilities of an MP3 player, a PDA or any other familiar type of handheld in mobilizing nearly every type of media format.

Like an iPOD, portable media players integrate a hard drive for plenty of storage. They also feature high quality LCD color displays like a sophisticated PDA. So you can play video and view pictures in addition to listening to music. Some even let you record television programming so you can watch your favorite show on a plane or during that long commute to work, for example.

Just about the only type of material you can't record to a portable media player is a DVD. That is probably because of the format's stringent Digital Rights Management (DRM) provisions. (Although you would think copying content from a DVD to a portable media player would fall under fair use?)

Since the portable media player category is so new, there aren't many available. Newer models include the Creative Labs Zen Portable Media Center, Archos' Gmini400, and iRiver's PMP-100 series.

Zen Portable Media Center
As one of the first vendors to sell an MP3 player, Creative helped set the standard for mobile audio. It hopes to be a leading light in the next stage of mobile entertainment, the portable media player, as well.

The $500 Zen Portable Media Center (see top image) adds a full-color 3.8" LCD screen for viewing tens of thousands of digital photos or up to 85 hours of video on its 20GB hard drive, which can also carry up to 9,000 songs.

With it, you can transfers video, music or digital photos from the PC via a fast USB 2.0 connection. In addition, the Auto Sync feature in Windows Media Player 10 purports to provide seamless content synchronization between device and PC.

Digital photos can be played back in a slide show, complete with a soundtrack compiled from the music library. Users can watch TV shows downloaded from any Microsoft XP-based PC with a TV tuner card, home movies transferred from the PC, or movies and other video content downloaded from the Internet.

Zen includes a built-in speaker and a TV out jack with audio, in addition to a headphone jack for individual use. It also comes with a protective case that doubles as an adjustable stand.

A removable and rechargeable Lithium Ion battery supplies up to 7 hours of video playback or up to 22 hours of music playback. The unit measures a pocket-sized 3.2 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches and weighs in at a hefty 12.2 ounces.

Four preset buttons located on top of the device—designed to operate like presets on a car stereo—can be programmed to jump directly to favorite movies, songs, playlists or pictures. A green front-mounted Windows Media Center button provides instant access to the "Start" or "Now Playing" screens for quickly finding, playing or returning to TV shows, digital photos, music and videos.

Archos Gmini400
Although the $399 Archos Gmini400 has a smaller color display, 2.2-inches, than Creative's Zen, it still offers the same type of music, video playback and photo viewing features.

Unlike Zen, it has a built-in CompactFlash reader for transferring photos and data. At only 4.2 x 2.4 x .07 inches, it is one of the smallest portable music players, while its 5.6-ounce weight makes it one of the lightest as well.


Archos Gmini400

With the Gmini400, you can record up to up to 300 hours of music and play MP3, WMA and WAV music files on its 20GB hard drive. In addition, the Gmini400 can store 200,000 digital photos. You can also view video externally on a TV display or projector through a built-in connector. As with other portable media players, media can be synced with a PC.

iRiver's PMP-120 and PMP-140
iRiver offers two portable media players in its PMP-100 series, a 20GB model for $500 and one with a massive 40GB hard drive for another hundred bucks.

Like other portable media players, the PMP-100 series lets you watch and listen to recorded TV shows, movies, videos, music and photos. To help users port video to the device, iRiver bundles a conversion application.

The unit's color display is, at 3.5-inches, a little smaller than Zen's but quite a bit larger than the Archos Gmini400 screen. The PMP-140 stores up to 150 hours of video and 1,200 hours of music with the 20GB PMP-120 supporting half that amount of video and music. In addition to playing media files, the PMP-100 series supports USB host transfers. This lets you download content directly from supported digital cameras and storage devices.


iRiver PMP-120

As with the Creative portable media player, the iRiver PMP-100 series features a rechargeable and replaceable Lithium Ion battery for up to 12 hours of audio or 4 hours of video. You also get a TV out port, built-in speaker, FM tuner and integrated voice recorder.

The players can also encode and store MP3 files from an array of sources using the unit's line-in jack. USB 2.0 connectivity to a desktop should make transferring files speedy.

The units measure 5.4 x 3.3 x 1.2 inches and weigh 9.9 ounces, which is smaller and lighter than Creative's Zen, but larger and heavier than the compact Archos Gmini400.