Here at Dukebox.com we specialise in the latest portable digital jukebox audio and visual players. That means mp3 players, portable video players and their accessories. We sell players made by Archos, Creative, Apple, iRiver, Rio and others. We only sell audio visual players that we like and would use ourselves: for years we refused to sell iPods because we considered them overpriced and under-specified though we now consider their latest models good buys.

The fast pace of development of these fantastic devices often makes us wonder exactly what we should collectively call them. From the start MP3 players could simply be divided into two types: hard disk (HD) based models (known as jukeboxes)that were essentially portable hard disks (of around 6-10GBs) with an integrated sound chip, a battery and a LCD screen, and RAM based players that were small but were limited in capacity to whatever amount of static RAM was popular at the time (128MB was considered large). When we first started selling the Hard disk variety back in 2000 it was simple; they were MP3 Jukeboxes. The only digital audio format that was remotely popular at the time was MP3 and the only high capacity player available was the Archos 6GB Jukebox. That model has become a dinosaur in just a few years such is the pace of development.

The most obvious change has been in the size of these players. The early Archos MP3 Jukeboxes were the size of a house brick and, while not as heavy, you couldn't carry one around in your trouser pocket without everyone thinking you were, ahem, "pleased to see them".

Today, high capacity hard disk jukebox players such as the Archos Gmini are no bigger than a pack of cigarettes. But this reduction in size is nothing compared to the incredible addition of features that makes putting these devices into simple pigeon holes so difficult.

Manufacturers like Archos produced models like the FM20 that had a built in Radio and, more importantly, allowed MP3s to be recorded straight onto it on the fly from any audio source such as a Hi-Fi amp. This freed MP3 jukeboxes from computers allowing non-computer owners to get into the MP3 Revolution. The Creative Jukebox 3 also had these desirable qualities along with a large 20GB hard disk and, while it looked like a portable CD player, it was the state of the art player of 2002.

The two main combatants in the hard disk MP3 player market at the time were Archos and Creative. Creative lagged behind Archos and their new audio video players for a while during this time; their jukebox 3 (JB3) with a 20GB hard disk being it's top of the range model. They concentrated on smaller RAM players like the MuVo. It wasn't until Apple stormed onto the scene with their iconic iPod that Creative released a major new hard disk MP3 player range; the Zen. Creative's inspiration for the Zen wasn't hard to find; it bore a remarkable resemblance to the Apple iPod. It had an almost identical case to the iPod and a similar screen too.

Ah Yes, the iPod. Apple's style and huge marketing resources together finally pushed MP3 players out of the techno gadget realm into the mainstream consumer Psyche. Their compact, solidly built cases and clever scroll buttons made up for their lack of technical features and feeble batteries and they became the 'must have' techno accessory among those who buy into such phenomenons. We refused to sell the early models such was their triumph of looks over substance but consider the latest 4th Generation iPods worthy of their iconic status.

Even though MP3 jukeboxes had become more advanced, more compact, and had larger capacity drives they were still just portable digital music players. 2003 saw the first blurring of the distinction; the arrival of video capabilities with the Archos Multimedia Jukebox, swiftly followed by the AV 100 range. These had, albeit small, colour LCD screens that could display the Mpeg or DiVX files stored on their large 20 and 40 Gigabyte hard disks. More usefully, they could display these files on an ordinary TV and, with the necessary video adapter, even record programs from the TV. Portable digital video player/recorders (PVR) had arrived.

The evolution of these PVRs has been frenetic to reach the compact, huge capacity, feature laden cool gadgets of today. No sooner had the futuristic Archos AV300 series been released with their large screens taking up most of their compact, palm-sized cases and built in digital recording facilities when along comes their successor a few months later. The Archos AV400 series manages to fit the screen into a case you can easily fit into your trouser pocket. Oh, and you can program it to record TV programmes! The ability to carry hours of films and recorded TV shows around with you all the time has arrived!

Not everyone wants portable video though and the relentless technical evolution has resulted in other improvements. The once clear distinction between RAM and Hard Disk based players has now blurred with the advent of 'mini-HD'. These enable models like the Creative MuVo 2 to fit several Gigabytes of storage into a player not much bigger than a RAM player and have many of the benefits of RAM.

Not only have the players themselves changed but the audio file formats have improved too. Where once there was just MP3 there is now WMA, Ogg Vorbis and the video formats like MPeg 4. These newer formats allow data to be compressed more efficiently so you can fit more audio/video onto your chosen player.

So, how should we accurately describe the devices Dukebox.com sells if the generic term "MP3 Player" is no longer accurate? How about "Cool looking, pocket-sized, multi-format, audio video digital data storing player/recorder dream gadgets"? Snappy!

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