Archos's sexiest PMP yet sports a sweet touchscreen and excellent video playback, but be sure to update to the latest firmware.

Attractive, sleek design, Sharp, responsive touchscreen, Very good A/V quality on player, Good Internet browsing and e-mail experience

Audio sometimes out of sync with TV output, Recording with optional DVR station is problematic, Picks up fingerprints easily, Issues with CinemaNow downloads

The interface is well organized using brightly colored icons with easily readable text labels for the main and sub-menus. It's easy to navigate with taps and swipes of a finger, and you can use your fingernail for more precision. The roomy virtual keyboar...

This value-price music player provides a different take on mobile music.

Easy to swap in cards, Low price, Pocket size, Easy to swap in cards

Limited slotMusic cards at launch, No onboard storage, Lacks hold button, Limited slotMusic cards at launch

Each slotMusic Card comes with a tiny USB adapter, allowing you to transfer music to and from the card using a Mac, Linux, or Windows system. Our Abba card had 180MB of remaining space, which let us put a few more MP3s on it. (Blank 1GB microSD Cards are...

The Zune is not only a formidable iPod classic alternative, it's a better option for music lovers.

Wireless sync, sharing, and purchase, Excellent music discovery features, Attractive interface, Vivid screen

Mediocre battery life, Dumb points-based payment system for ? la carte downloads, Video content selection still lags behind iTunes

The new Zune can't beat the iPod classic's battery life or game support, but it does have a better screen, useful music-discovery features, and wireless. Ultimately, the 120GB Microsoft Zune is an excellent iPod classic alternative and gives you significa...

A built-in speaker makes this cute little MP3 player a decent choice for kids and tweens.

Good sound, Very affordable, Built-in speaker

Button layout confusing, Scratch-prone screen, No dedicated volume buttons, Doesn't work with Macs

Videos and photos look fine on the Mozaic, though we wouldn't watch long movies on the player's small screen. The FM tuner gets decent reception, and we like the voice recorder's on-screen level meter, though our test recordings were a bit noisy. Battery...

Iriver's pricey but innovative Spinn portable media player sports a cool new user interface and offers stereo Bluetooth for rocking out wirelessly.

Built-in Bluetooth, Large touchscreen with haptic feedback, Very good sound with SRS WOW HD, Supports drag-and-drop in Windows and Mac OS

Spinn wheel can be imprecise, Bundled software is clunky and Windows-only, Expensive given limited storage, FLAC files won't play over Bluetooth

We also like the broad feature set and inclusion of high-res FLAC support, but we wish the software were a little better organized. Also disappointing is that a video-oriented device like this doesn't come in a 16GB model. The Spinn is pricier than its co...

The fourth-gen nano takes some cues from the iPod touch while offering an improved design.

Slim and curvy design, Very good sound, Accelerometer enhances many features, Sharp and bright screen

Average battery life, No wireless feature

While the $149 iPod nano 4G doesn't incorporate wireless features like the similarly priced, flash-based Zune, it has a more compelling design. We like the accelerometer and the Genius feature; iTunes is an easier service to use in regard to pricing, and...

The second-gen touch adds just enough to keep it ahead of the pack.

Good battery life, Apps install quickly, Built-in speaker and volume buttons, Best touchscreen around

Accelerometer needs calibration, Google Maps locator function is quirky, No cut-and-paste or e-mail search

Battery life is significantly improved, increasing from 22 hours to a very respectable 36 hours of audio (or 6 hours of video), though that's dependent on how much you use Wi-Fi and accelerometer-based apps

The first Wi-Fi-enabled Zen offers excellent sound, but drops the ball with a confusing control scheme.

Clean, crisp sound, SD Card slot, Comfortable bundled earbuds, Audiobook support

Cluttered navigation controls, Underwhelming audio enhancement, Non-JPEG photo files need to be transcoded, No predictive text when instant messaging

Staying connected to Wi-Fi takes a heavy toll on battery life (half an hour of wireless use drained a freshly charged player by 25 percent), but you can turn it off in the system settings. Creative rates the Zen X-Fi's battery life at 36 hours for audio (...

This budget MP3 player supports a variety of formats, but an uninspired design relegates it to the land of the average digital audio player.

Supports numerous audio/video codecs, Loud volume

Lacks memory card slot, Awkward placement of volume buttons, Ho-hum design

Priced at $99.99, the Lplayer is a solid music player that's compatible with a number of audio/video formats for the hardcore multimedia set. If you're satisfied with its limited amount of memory, and don't mind the odd placement of the volume button, you...

This full-featured, value-priced media player serves up a good dose of competition for the iPod nano.

Excellent sound quality, Compatible with Linux, Mac, and Windows, Aggressively priced, MicroSD/microSDHC Card slot

Limited format compatibility, Dull screen

All in all, the SanDisk Sansa Fuze is a terrific value. As SanDisk manufactures its own flash memory, it passes along the savings to customers in the form of a player that's $49 and $69 cheaper than comparable 4GB and 8GB iPod nanos, respectively. If you...