Portable Waterproof MP3 Players

By: Matthew Champneys

A portable water-resistant MP3 player can be a great companion for your Marine Stereo your boat or other outdoor location. Use the tips below to get the most out of your equipment.

The recording industry currently reports that about half of the music sales in the United States comes from online sales of digital music files versus sales of CDs. The convenience of being able to pay for a song, immediately download it from the Internet and play it in perfect quality is very appealing. There are several ways to enjoy digital music files in a marine environment and our next few articles will examine these methods.

A portable MP3 player takes place in the "Sony Walkman" in decades past. Instead of a tape or a CD, MP3 player has a memory chip that will store digital music files. How many songs that will save depends on the capacity of the memory chip and the length of songs, but also MP3 players with a minimum memory capacity will hold several times more songs than your average Audio CD.

You load an MP3 player with songs by connecting it to your computer via a USB cable. When connected properly, your MP3 player will appear on your computer, just as your hard disk and CD-ROM. Adding songs is as simple as dragging and dropping files of songs on your MP3 player icon. (see the MP3 player's manual for specific instructions on how to connect and load the songs)

As the popularity of digital music increases, so does the number of people who use portable MP3 players in their boats, near the pool or in all-terrain vehicles. MP3 players have no moving parts to a CD or cassette player, making them sustainable in the road and great for the outdoors. Unfortunately, most MP3 players are not made for a wet environment. In particular, copper in the circuit is very susceptible to corrosion when they are exposed to moisture.

If your MP3 player will be safe in a cabin or in another protected area and / or you will only have it outside for short periods at a time when you are not likely to be too concerned. On the other hand, if you believe it will be exposed to splash and spray or could also fall into the water, then you will definitely want to consider a waterproof MP3 players.


Waterproof MP3 player is not only submersible up to 10 feet, but they also float so that they can easily be recycled when they fell into the water. They come with waterproof head phones as well. Ever wanted to do laps in the pool and listen to music at the same time? No problem!

More importantly, a waterproof portable MP3 player makes a great companion to a marine stereo with auxiliary input. Just connect a cable from the headphone jack on the MP3 player to the auxiliary input on your stereo and you're ready to play crystal clear digital music through your computer.

Not all stereos have Aux inputs, so you want to check it. Some music players will have an Aux input plug the right of the Faceplate. Others will have RCA type Aux input jacks on the back and you need an audio adapter to make the connection. With the help of an adapter has advantages in that you can mount a convenient plug wherever you want and you are not limited to relax into Faceplate in stereo.

If your stereo does not have Aux inputs, it is possible to connect your MP3 player through FM modulation. An FM modulator sends an FM signal that is raised by your FM radio. This method works, but the quality of the signal is never as good as a direct connection. Compared with buying a stereo and an FM modulator, you would be much better just to buy a stereo with Aux inputs.

None some newer model marine stereos allows you to plug in your MP3 player via a USB cable as the connection to the computer. The advantage is twofold. First, you'll be able to control the song selection from the Faceplate in stereo or use the stereo remote. Others, most MP3 player batteries recharged via the USB cable so that your player's battery will charge you listen to it.