MULTI-FORMAT PERSONAL DIGITAL AUDIO PLAYER

摘要

An apparatus and a method for playing back audio files encoded using one of a plurality of encoding formats, such as MP3 and Real Networks G2. The present invention is a portable audio playback device that allows a user to playback an encoded audio data file, which audio data file has been encoded using a particular encoding format, by transferring the encoded audio data file and an associated decoder file to a digital signal processor in response to a user input. The digital signal processor decodes the encoded audio data file in accordance with the associated decoder file to provide a data file suitable for reproduction. By transferring both the audio data file and the associated decoder file, the present apparatus allows the user to playback a plurality of audio data files encoded using respective ones of a plurality of encoding formats. Advantageously, the audio data files and the decoder files are stored on a solid state data storage medium, such as a compactflash memory card.