Historically the first MP3 player was released by Eiger Labs (Mpman in Japan) in the US in 1998, but quickly met its competition with MiniDisc. Numerous brands (like Philips, Archos, and Creative) rushed to fill the breach in the market, though they never saw great success. It wasn't until the revolution of the iPod in 2001 that the digital music player really captured the hearts of the public. With its simple design and being compact and easy to use, the iPod allowed people to carry thousands of songs along with them in their pockets. Later, digital music players became more multimedia players as they had multiple GB of memory that could store not only music, but videos, photos, and games, and could even connect to the internet.
There are many models and brands of digital music player, from Samsung to Apple, featuring many different characteristics. Some versions have touch screens, some connect to the internet, and some are more compact and only play music. The brand is generally written on the front or the back of the device. To find the exact model, it's sometimes written on the rear case (like the iPod for example), or it's stored in the device in the information section.