It's not every day you see Creative propping up one of its biggest rivals with a new device, but it seems to have decided that there's enough of a market in iPod-based speakers to release the new Travelsound i80.

Unusually, it's designed specifically for the 3rd generation iPod Nano, and is predictably quite slim and compact, being a one-piece speaker finished in stylish aluminium. Four independant micro drivers and a digital amplifier offers some substance to the claim that it offers more volume and clarity than much larger rivals, and you'll get around 15 hours of playback from the built-in rechargeable battery.

You can boost this via a USB connection, which will also allow you to synchronise tunes directly to your player and manage playlists, video and photos.

The i80 certainly seems to talk the talk, and provided the audio quality is as impressive as Creative says, we think this pocket-sized solution could be a perfect accompaniment to the latest in a range of admittedly excellent MP3 players.