The MP3 player has revolutionised music on the move, but only for those in the know. Boat Mart's Peter Caplen talks us through the technical intricacies of the modern music system for your boat.

Many ageing boaters have written off the MP3 player as yet another gadget for the young, entirely overlooking its suitability for providing music on board. Even as a gadget fan, I imagined it was nothing more than a new type of Walkman, designed for young people who constantly need something to fill the void between their ears.

But after being introduced to this small technological marvel, I found that it could produce brilliant high-quality music when plugged into a home hi-fi or car stereo. The advertising agencies clearly failed in their task of telling people like me what an MP3 player could really do because, for boat owners, this is the definitive answer to the problem of music on board. Perhaps you have an upmarket stereo on board with a ten-CD disk changer. Well with an MP3 player you can have a thousand disk changer that fits in your pocket.
Just like Hoover is the generic term for vacuum cleaners, it is generally agreed that iPod is now the accepted name for MP3 (and MP4) players and, when it comes to high-quality accessories for connecting to a variety of hi-fi systems whether in-car, at home or in the boat, the iPod range from Apple can’t be beaten.

I like listening to music on the boat and in the car but one thing I have found is that cassettes don’t like the damp, several having been chewed up by the player when moisture has found its way in. I was thinking about upgrading to a multi-disk CD changer but luckily, before I made the decision, I discovered the joys of the iPod. This little gadget allows me to carry on using my old (but very good quality) cassette stereo with all my cassettes safely transferred onto the iPod. As well as my cassette collection, I have also transferred my collection of now unobtainable vinyl that I have never been able to listen to on the boat.