In our increasingly mobile society, portability is king. Thanks to easy-to-transport, high-tech products such as cell phones, laptops, personal data assistants and portable MP3 players, many of the tasks that can be accomplished at home on a personal computer can now be done on the road.

With portable media centers, you can store and access nearly all of your digital entertainment files on a single, lightweight unit about the size of a paperback novel. They can handle recorded television programs, movies, home videos, music and digital photos. You can even connect a portable media center to a television or stereo using the A/V-out jack when portability isn't necessary.

In this article, you'll learn about the storage capacity and wide array of advanced features available in portable media centers, focusing on the Windows-based versions that currently dominate the market.

Storage Capacity and File Types

Though generally larger and bulkier than their primary competitor in portable media storage and playback, the Apple iPod Photo (up to 60 GB storage capacity for 15,000 songs or 25,000 photos), Windows Mobile-based portable media centers currently feature 20-GB or 40-GB storage capacities and can store and play not only music and photos, but also video content. A portable media center with a 40 GB hard disk can hold up to 160 hours of video, up to 10,000 songs or tens of thousands of digital photographs.

Archos currently offers non-Windows portable video player/recorders with similar capabilities to the Windows PMCs, but Archos' players feature up to 100 GB (400 hours of video) of storage.

Finding PMC Music, Videos

Using Windows Media 10, you can transfer files from a personal computer to a portable media center through a USB 2.0 cable. Windows PMCs will accept the following types of files from a home computer or laptop:

Music copied from a CD

Pictures from a digital camera

Home movies from a digital video camera

TV shows recorded on a computer running Windows XP Media Center Edition or other personal video recorder programs

Videos downloaded from the Internet

Portable media centers can also play premium downloaded digital music and video from various online services. It should be noted, however, that DVDs you own cannot be transferred to the device because of copyright restrictions.

Transferring Files

Files can be transferred from a personal computer to a portable media center using Windows Media Player 10. If the portable media center cannot support a particular file size or format, Windows Media Player 10 will automatically convert the file to a type and size supported by the device. You can set up Windows Media Player 10 to sync the type of media you want every time you connect a portable media center to your PC. Types of Portable Media Centers

To learn more about the various devices available now -- and to compare their features -- visit HowStuffWorks.