The iRiver E100 is an entry-level media player, available in 4GB, and 8GB sizes for about $60 and $80 respectively. As you might have guessed from the price, the E100 is a basic device. It doesn't have the frills and level of extensability that many ...

The E100 had good battery life for music playback: you can squeeze out about 17 and a half hours from a full charge. On video playback, however, expect your batteries to die after about 3 and a half hours

Apple has done it again and made an already-miniscule MP3 player even smaller with their 3rd generation of the iPod Shuffle. This Shuffle has no screen or physical controls on it aside from a single switch, and it comes with a headset with an in-line ...

The headphone's inline remote has volume up and down buttons on either end, with a single multi-function button in the middle. A single click on this button pauses and plays music, while a double click skips to the next track. Getting fancier, a ...

The iPod Shuffle is just about the smallest media player out there right now, thanks in part to its screenless design. The iPod Shuffle doesn't have much of a user interface to speak of: you can set it to randomly play a song or repeat a song. There ...

The iPod Shuffle (1GB) currently retails for around $50

The Archos 7 gets its name from its giant, 7-inch display. The Archos 7 also has a huge price: $450. This will put the Archos 7 out of a lot of budgets. The player itself is certainly impressive, if expensive. The screen makes it ideal for watching ...

The device doesn't handle as well as an iPod Touch, however. The interface isn't as well laid out and its touch screen feels sluggish in comparison. Of course, compared to the average, non-iPod media player, the Archos defines the higher end of the ...

The Creative Zen X-Fi WLAN 16GB is a small and attractive music and video playback device that offers some interesting features but also has some significant shortcomings. We like the support for wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi and appreciate the ...

The Zen X-Fi's audio quality in our tests was reasonable. We did find that some frequencies at the higher end were exaggerated and cut off, but most of the frequencies were right where we wanted them so most of your music will sound just fine. What we ...

Sony's Walkman tape players were the iPod of their day. The Sony Walkman NWZ-A729 is the latest evolution of the brand, and is currently available in 8GB and 16GB capacities for $199 and $299 respectively. The interface is similar to that of many ...

The NWZ-A729 has a few factors going against it. Compared to modern iPods it simply feels old. The interface isn't as polished and the physical design isn't as well thought out (d-pad scrolling through long playlists is suboptimal). While there's ...

The iPod Classic from Apple is the decendent of the device that started the media player craze. This latest iteration comes in in 80GB and 120GB models, which retail for $170 and $249 respectively. The software has had a few upgrades over the years, ...

Of course, while the software will provide you with an easy-to-use interface, you'll still be wedded to iTunes (or some third-party workaround) for media transfers. the hardware is still questionable. Additionally, the iPod Classic looks a bit big ...

The Archos 5 is the latest offering from Archos, and is currently available for $350. The Archos 5 is jam packed with capabilities, but realizing the device's true potential will require a slew of additional purchases. As it is out of the box, the ...

The Archos 5 did had inconsistent audio test results. It had a very even frequency response, meaning it won't mess around with the way your music sounds. The Archos 5 did suffer from quite a bit of distortion, however, especially in the left channel. ...

The iPod Nano is the portability-focused option from Apple, and is available for $150. This device has evolved quite a bit in size and shape over its different iterations. This particular iPod Nano is a is impressively small and thin with a large ...

The iPod Nano had great audio performance. It had a nice even frequency response, whihc means the device isn't adding or subtracting emphasis from any given frequency. The Nano had impressively low distortion and noise, which means your music will ...

The iPod Touch is the latest media player from Apple, and is available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB sizes for $229.00, $299.00, and $399.00 respectively. The device uses a touch screen that's capable of registering multiple points of contact at once, which ...

The iPod Touch did well on just about all our audio tests. It had a very flat frequency response, which means the device isn't adding or subtracting any emphasis from any group of frequencies. The device also added very little amounts of distortion or ...