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The unit is a tasteful off white with grey trim round the monochrome display. It weights less than 100grams and is 8x5x1.7cm.

While files can be transferred by attaching the supplied mini USB lead there is also a very nice docking station provided that makes things even easier. The unit fits easily in the docking station and transfer of files is quick, efficient and easy.

A novice to using an MP3 – there must surely still be some – will find any queries answered in the clearly laid out 40 page manual.

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There are four buttons on the right side of the unit and together with a five position joystick on the front control all the actions of the unit. When you first switch on you are met with a seven option top menu, your normal action will be to select the top choice Play Music. I will not go into all the ways your tracks can be categorised but there are many.

As with a good proportion of other recent MP3 players it can also record voice, these files are normally recorded and saved as low quality .WAV files but these still tend to be large. However it is possible with this unit to save them as MP3 and this both improves the quality and reduces the overall size. I was pleasantly surprised at the sound quality from the pin hole microphone on the left side of the unit.

The top has two sockets one for line in and the other for headphones. There are a reasonable pair of earbuds provided along with other leads and the all important mains adapter. A full charge is said to take 90 minutes, however you can also charge from the USB lead and this would take around four hours.

Battery life between charges is 10 hours – some other MP3 units offer up to 16 hours – this is reasonable without being outstanding. The recharge time is however good. So far only good news. The internal memory is 5GB and that is surely enough for almost anyone. The file formats supported are WMA and MP3 but not Ogg Vorbis a format that is gaining popularity.

Transfer of files is through a doctored copy of the excellent Music Match software, I was somewhat surprised to find this is version 8 something that has been superseded sometime ago, however it works perfectly well and track transfer is rapid as it makes full use of USB2 for transfer. 

The software is provided on a mini CD that will work fine on most PC’s however it could be a problem for those who have units where you just push the CD in as this can be a problem as they will be expecting a full size CD.

Many good points as you would expect from a ‘label’ brand, however there is the minus point and that is of course the premium you pay for a ‘label’, The likely price is around £179.

www.ministryofsound.co.uk/audio