The key feature of any of these machines is the way they sound. Creative's DAP player gives a good, balanced sound, but judging by the pre-recorded tracks on the machine, it doesn't have a lot of volume. Even at the maximum setting, it could be drowned out by background noise.

The HipZip didn't suffer from a lack of volume, but there was a noticeable crackle on one channel of the headphones which was apparent on all the tracks on both Pocket Zip disks. This is most likely to have been a fault on this particular sample, though.

The little Soul Digital machine from LG gave surprisingly good sound, though the bass lines were rather thin. The Nike player and the Rio, as you might expect with very similar internals, gave similar sound. Here, there was plenty of definition, though the equaliser settings made a big difference. It's worth switching settings between tracks.

Of the five players reviewed here, we'd go for the Rio at around £170, as it has a lot of expansion capabilities, including the Microdrive and other removable media in the pipeline. Creative's DAP is the other contender, particularly if your main need is for music to pass the time while you're using the UK's fabulous public transport system. And you can plug it into your home stereo and have continuous music for days on end.