Triangular music players are trendy at the moment and iRiver's T60 is about half the length of the smallest Toblerone. Available in a variety of colours, all three faces of the player are used. The front face has a full-colour LCD display and a five-way jog dial, while the back has three buttons, referred to as play/stop, A-B and recording, though the recording button has other uses too.

On the bottom is the hold switch and the back edge hides a battery compartment for a single AAA cell, which is said to last up to 19 hours. Set into the front edge is a mini USB 2 socket and the fairly standard earbud headphones plug into the left-hand end of the player.

We didn't find the T60's operating method particularly easy to adjust to and this isn't helped by the quick start guide. This is a single, A6-sized page with instructions on fairly obscure functions, like how to set up the FM radio frequency range in different regions, but nothing on powering the player on and off of or switching modes between music playback, radio and recorder. The player's own menu system is well laid-out and colourful, but the jog dial could be more positive, particularly when pressing the button straight in.

On the other hand, the iRiver Plus 3 software is supremely easy to use. It spotted that the firmware on the accompanying CD was newer than that in the player and updated it automatically, then searched a specified folder on our music server (it would have searched the whole drive if we'd preferred) and found the 1,213 tracks available. Ticking the tracks wanted and syncing the T60 transferred them with no problem. The player can handle pictures, too, though with a widescreen display of just 24mm they're never going to be very detailed.

The player supports ASF and OGG Q10 sound files, as well as the expected MP3 and WMA. It's available in 2GB and 4GB versions, so is good for even medium-sized music collections. Sound quality is good, with a well-positioned and clear stereo sound-stage, but as often with lower cost players, it's light on bass. A better pair of headphones could help with this.

FM radios are usually pretty much of an afterthought with modestly priced players, but the tuner included here works well, even if you're not in a strong signal area. The digital recorder is also OK, certainly good enough for recording speech and possibly singing.

This is a comparatively simple, flash-based audio player, but with better than average FM radio and record functions. The control system isn't as intuitive as with some players and the player could really benefit from a better quick start guide. Once you're used to it, though, the T60 represents good value for money and plays for a good while on its single AAA battery.