Despite streaming services taking over how we listen to music, the MP3 player is still alive and well in 2019, in concept if not name (portable music player makes more sense). But this once-ubiquitous device from the early aughts is now niche, to put it mildly. With smartphones and tablets occupying the space in pockets and bags that was once reserved for iPods, the MP3 player has adapted to become a very different beast for a very specific kind of user.

To quickly answer the question of whether you should buy a dedicated MP3 player, the answer is: Maybe. If you’re looking for a gym-friendly music source, it’s hard to make a truly compelling argument for MP3 players. They aren’t particularly rugged devices, with the exception of waterproof earphones with built-in storage, like the JBL Endurance Dive.

For the most part, the people who will actually benefit from a portable music player in 2019 probably all have a few key traits in common: They buy music files, they prefer high-quality file formats, they rarely use streaming services (except for maybe Tidal), and they likely have some very nice wired headphones. In other words, the MP3 player in 2019 is a device for audiophiles. And if you’re willing to spend some serious dough to get your lossless audio in a portable player that works with your awesome headphones in this era of headphone jack-less phones, then yes, you probably want to consider a dedicated portable music player.

A History of the MP3 Player

Chances are you don’t remember the first MP3 players on the market—either because you weren’t alive, or because you didn’t own one. Regardless of which model was truly first to market, the 1998 Rio PMP300 was, for all intents and purposes, the first MP3 player of importance. It sold quite well, and the RIAA panicked, fearing that devices like the Rio would be used to share “stolen” files. The MP3 player, along with Napster, was viewed as the downfall of the recording industry, and even Metallica got involved in lawsuits that now seem quaint, if not ridiculous, in an era when music is more often subscribed to than actually purchased and owned.

Then along came the Apple iPod in 2001 to redefine and popularize the concept of the MP3 player. It looked cooler and stored a lot more songs than its non-Apple competitors, and its white earbuds (precursors to today’s AirPods) were something of a hip status symbol. The iPod started with a hard drive, a spinning wheel, and an unimpressive screen, and evolved from there until Apple’s next big game changer, the iPhone.

With the iPhone came the iPod touch, effectively an iPhone without the “phone” part, using a touch screen and iOS to expand the idea of the iPod far beyond music. Lines then blurred until the dedicated, music-focused iPod was all but forgotten. Now smartphones can cover communication, productivity, gaming, social networking, photography, and still play MP3s and streaming music. Music lovers with huge digital libraries of high-quality files have been more or less forgotten about by the phone and tablet makers, with a few niche exceptions.

In 2019, the best portable media players for music lovers are far more similar to the original MP3 players than they are iPhones. Yes, Apple still offers the iPod touch, which is very useful for parents who want to give their kids a smartphone-like experience without giving them a phone, but it isn’t suitable for the music lovers described above. The listening experience on an iPod touch is nearly identical to that of the iPhone, and if you’re still reading this, that almost certainly isn’t what you’re after.

The Best MP3 Players

For audiophiles, the question becomes: What kind of file support do you need? Today’s top MP3 players need to support a wide range of codecs, with high-resolution bitrates and sampling rates. A quality portable music player will be able to load most lossless formats, like AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, OGG, and WAV. Yes, they can also play lossy MP3s, which can still be fairly high-quality depending on their specs. A good music player should also be able to handle 24-bit tracks with at least 48kHz sample rate (and ideally, much higher). Options like the $1,500 Astall & Kern Kann Cube do just that.

But for those of you who also want to listen on high-end audiophile or studio headphones, it’s about more than just storage and file compatibility. It’s also about more than just having a headphone jack. You want the internal amplifier to be powerful enough to drive your headphones, as many high-fidelity models aren’t necessarily made with portable media players in mind—they’re often designed to be used with more powerful home stereo or studio/recording gear, and have much higher impedance. This means the relatively low-power jacks on smartphones can’t coax much sound out of these headphones, because they’re expecting much more power to drive the signal. Even some of the most audiophile-friendly portable media players might not have quite enough amplifier power to work well with high-impedance headphones, so make sure to check the specs (although you’re safe with the two models listed above).

If $1,000 and up is out of your budget, there are still some high-quality portable music players worth considering. The HiFiMan SuperMini is a far more affordable option at $399, Sony still churns out various Walkman models (now all-digital devices, not portable cassette players) that do a serviceable job of reproducing audio, and the $299 Activo CT10 is a solid player.

Swappable storage is also a consideration. Some models come with microSD slots now, so you can swap out cards loaded with music and essentially determine what the storage capacity is on your own. In fact, some devices, like the HiFiMan, don’t have built-in storage and require you to use microSD storage.

Of course, there’s also the $199 iPod touch, which is the most popular MP3 player by name, though it’s the least like the rest of the portable music players discussed here. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack and features support for various high-quality music formats, though it’s also a gateway to the massive iOS app ecosystem you get on iPhones. It’s a fantastic device for kids who want to watch Netflix, play games, and keep in touch with their friends, though it’s less compelling as a dedicated device for audiophiles.

Even the iPod touch is a couple hundred bucks, however. If you really just want a budget, portable MP3 player, SanDisk still makes its tiny Clip lineup, including the $35 Clip Jam and the waterproof $50 Clip Sport Plus. But ultimately, you get what you pay for with modern music players—it’s a category ruled by serious features and practicality, not superficial style and status. Thus, the higher-priced models often have better touch screens, built-in EQ, more impressive playback specs and internal amplification, and more built-in storage. Lower-priced options still offer high-quality audio reproduction, but often skip the niceties that can bulk up player size and price.

A New Day

As cloud storage and streaming audio become the norm, personal file ownership and storage are becoming even more of a niche idea, and it’s hard to know if these portable players will still be made in just a few years from now. With that in mind, perhaps there’s never been a better time to invest in what is essentially a portable hard drive with audio connectivity and playback capabalities—and a time capsule and safeguard for your music. So long live the MP3 player—just don’t call it an MP3 player.