| Portable Media Players or Digital Audio Players, | | | | These players are available in many types. Most |
| which are mostly produced in China, are known as | | | | of them are extremely light weighted and have |
| Chinese MP4/MTV Player or MP4 Players. These | | | | 1.2 screens, while others can be more forceful |
| players can display images and text files and play | | | | with screens of 1.5 to 2 inch and also containing |
| videos. These players have nothing to do with | | | | two earphone sockets and built in speakers |
| MP4 or M4A or M4V audio or video file formats. | | | | instead of conventional one earphone socket. |
| In fact, the previous players were able to play | | | | Some of them have OLED display which is |
| only limited file formats like MTV, DMV, AMV and | | | | capable of producing brighter images when |
| MPV. But recent MP4 players can also play video | | | | compared to normal LCD displays, but the picture |
| files with MPEG4 format. Most of them are a | | | | quality does suffer. |
| mixture of S1 MP3 Players. | | | | It is extremely easy to operate these players |
| The first MP4 Players were developed by a | | | | and only few buttons perform multiple actions. |
| French Company Archos in the year 2002. Thus, | | | | many players have extra buttons but most of |
| to gain an upper hand in the market, the Chinese | | | | them have star configuration next to the screen |
| Companies made slight enhancement to their MP3 | | | | with a joystick in the centre of the star. These |
| Players and started to market them as MP4 | | | | players have memory up to 8GB if they are flash |
| Players and dubbed them as the `Successor of | | | | based and 100GB for micro hard drive based. |
| MP3 Players`. | | | | Some recent MP4 players also support an |
| Most of these players were unable to play MPEG4 | | | | external, third party flash memory cards. These |
| format video files and even fewer could have | | | | players have generally USB 1 and USB 2 support. |
| played DivX or Xvid format video files. But when | | | | Earphones are generally offered with the players |
| more and more companies promoted their | | | | but they are of inferior quality. Package also |
| players with enhanced video and audio qualities, | | | | contains a USB cable with proper drives and a |
| Chinese companies started a `True MP4 Players | | | | charger. many also come with a special case. |
| Vs False MP4 Player Campaign` and successfully | | | | The battery generally lasts for several hours, but |
| drove the less advanced MP3 players to the MP3 | | | | this varies greatly with the model of the player |
| market and hence stabilized and standardized the | | | | and its usage. The recent batteries can now run |
| Chinese MP4 Market. | | | | for 12 hrs as compared 6 hrs for older batteries. |
| Most of these MP4 Players contain an image file | | | | But most of the batteries are of cheap quality |
| viewer and you can see a JPG or BMP file. They | | | | and swell abnormally. Thus most new MP4 players |
| can also play MP3 and have other audio format`s | | | | support batteries from Nokia Phones and these |
| codecs. Videos are mostly played in MTV or AMV | | | | are highly recommended. |
| format. Videos are converted to these formats | | | | MP4 Players were a part of marketing strategy |
| using conversion software. E-books can be read | | | | of the Chinese manufacturers and has gained a |
| through an ASCII text viewer. Some also have | | | | lot of popularity over the years. These players |
| additional enhancements like phone book, voice | | | | are enhanced every day and have rightfully |
| recorder, FM or AM radio. Thus you can also | | | | captured the market and have rivaled iPods for a |
| record FM broadcasts. Some MP4 Players also | | | | long time. This Chinese version of iPods are also |
| have video games in them. | | | | known as ChiPods. |