In recent years, however, rapid improvements to removable memory cards and mobile phone technology have made the not-so-humble cell phone a viable option as a music player, which could spell the end for the standalone portable media player.



If you have a 3G-capable phone with a slot for removable memory cards, which most of them do, then you already own a fully-functional pocket media player. Chances are that your phone came with a pair of headphones and a cable to connect to your computer, so all you really need to buy is a memory card, although a good pair of headphones will enhance the experience considerably.

You can download songs from your PC onto your phone using the cable that came with your handset. You need to make sure that the format that you have your music files stored as, which could be MP3, AAC, or WMA, is compatible with your phone. If they are not, however, there is no need to panic, as there are several great freeware converters available online that will allow you to change whole batches of files from one format to another.

Unless you just want to listen to the same few songs over and over again, then you will probably need to get a memory card. These can come in capacities of up to 16GB, which is enough to store several thousand songs and even a few full length movies. These can be bought cheaply from the web or from back street mobile phone stores, although avoid buying them on the high street as they can be very expensive there.

Unless you are really strapped for cash, it is a good idea to buy the largest capacity memory card you can find, as you will most likely just leave it in once you have installed it, and you will have to wipe files constantly to make room for new ones on a smaller card.

Most music capable phones come with their own headphones, which are usually of poor quality. If you can, it is advisable to get a separate set of headphones that are both comfortable and provide a high sound quality. Brands to look out for include Sennheiser, AKG, Beyer Dynamic, and Audio Technica.

In-ear headphones might be trendy, but they can hurt your ears if you leave them in for too long, so if you are planning to listen for extended periods. Then a pair of open-backed on-ear headphones are a better bet from a sound quality and comfort point of view. You may need to buy an adaptor to use them with your phone, but these are rarely expensive