Portable media players review and compare

Results tables

Table notes

ns - Not stated.
# Discontinued, but may still be available in some shops.
* Functionality may be reduced compared to use with a Windows PC.
(1) We had variable results with this player.
(2) Data transfer only.
Price Recommended retail, as of November 2008.

Scores The overall score is made up of

• Ease of use (40%)
• Sound quality (20%)
• Video quality (20%)
• Battery life (20%)

Battery life scores are calculated so that a player that averages 36 hours or more gets 100% and one that lasts six hours gets 50%. The battery score is based on at least two tests.

Playback while recharging means that it’s possible to listen to your music while the player is connected to your PC and recharging.

Mac-compatible Other than the Apple iPod and iPhone, some players functionality may be reduced compared with use on a PC.

Capacity is in gigabytes — 2GB can store around 500 songs of average length.

Software supplied Apple iPods use iTunes, which can be downloaded for free from the Apple website. Other players without specific software can also use iTunes or Windows Media Player.

How we tested

The CHOICE testers checked how easy the players are to set up, play music and video on and rip and transfer music and video files with the software provided or, if none was supplied, using Windows Media Player (or iTunes for the music test with Apple products). They also evaluated how easy each player was to handle, carry around or wear.
They listened to each player with the earbuds provided and measured frequency response signal to noise ratio, total harmonic distortion and channel separation.
They watched the video and assessed it for colour, clarity and accuracy of rendition. We have listed the claimed video life only this time, but we plan to test video life in our next test.
To check how long the batteries on each model would last playing music without recharging or replacing the battery, our testers played the same tracks on each model at the same volume on repeat-play mode until they switched off. For the Next G phones, we tested with and without flight mode activated, but only found a 5% difference in the results and so have listed the results without flight mode activated.