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Canada.com: The MP3 player is set to celebrate its 10th birthday this summer. The device that would revolutionize how and where music is played — and the music industry itself — first appeared in South Korea in the summer of 1998. SaeHan Information Systems’ “MPMan” player offered 16 megabytes of storage capacity. Today’s iPod Classic, with 160 gigabytes of space, boasts 10,000 times more space.

But it was the Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia, introduced in fall 1998, that set the industry in motion. The Internet figured big with early MP3 players, becoming the conduit for controversial digital-music sharing. The Rio survived the recording industry’s legal assault, based on an earlier victory by Sony that established the public’s right to record TV shows for later viewing.

Early this decade, Creative’s 40- and 60-GB players made it possible for music lovers to store thousands of songs in a pocket-sized gadget. Voice-recording functions, FM tuners, calendars and personal-contact managers were added, followed by picture viewing, games and video.

Despite the high quality and simplicity of these early players, they remained a niche item. But Apple changed all that with the iPod in 2001. Its five gigabytes could hold 1,000 songs, and its cool looks and simple-to-use features invited more consumers to shuffle their music between their Macs and iPods.

The iPod was a big success from the start, creating iPod envy for Windows users. Today, three out of four MP3 players sold are iPods, with more than 140 million sold up to February 2008. Creative is a distant second with 25 million sold.

Despite Apple’s success, Windows-based competitors have also been making innovative MP3 players. Samsung’s YP55 has built-in sliding stereo speakers, while Creative’s tiny Stone Plus has its own built-in speaker. SanDisk’s Sansa Fuse and Creative’s Zen have MicroSD and SD memory slots for adding songs, and Sony’s new Video Walkman MP3 Players have long battery life and superior audio quality. Some feature Bluetooth or noise cancellation.

In 2006 Microsoft released its own MP3 player — Zune.

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Electricpig: This tiny MP3 player might look like an After Eight Mint, but Philips has crammed enough technology inside to pump out your tunes in the sweetest (and smallest) way possible.

It’s available in 2GB and 4GB capacities.

Up front there’s a crystal clear OLED screen, and inside there’s an FM radio too.

The player, dubbed the GoGear, will happily chew up MP3s, WMA and AAC files, and packs Philips Full Sound technology to “upconvert” low quality music files into richer sounding audio.

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Tech Digest: The surfer-friendly SwiMP3 Surf MP3 player is a practical accessory for anyone wanting to ride the waves.

Yes, it’s waterproof of course – and that applies to both the casing and the earbuds. And the earbuds also stop water from entering the ear canal, holding themselves solidly in place.

Just strap the player to your arm and you can listen to 256MB of tunes. Available now, you can pick one up for £99.

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BBC News: Computer scientists are hoping to add GPS satellite navigation technology to hand-held music devices like MP3s, to help guide pedestrians around cities.

Walkers could programme a destination into a device and be directed there while listening to songs.

If headed the right way, music would play from both headphones, but shifting volume to different ears could indicate a change in direction.

Swansea and Glasgow universities have had funding for the three-year project.

Researchers say the technology could be developed to allow users to personalise the system.

If they were in an unfamiliar town or city and had an interest in art galleries, the device could give them ‘a nudge’ to alert them one was nearby.

The system’s prototype was developed by Dr Matt Jones, a senior lecturer at Swansea University’s department of computer science, while he was working in New Zealand.

He has now had funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop the idea further with colleagues in Scotland.

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