4. Conclusion

The shiny cases and bright colors make these little players look somewhat like toys or candy, though you can always pick the plainer black and white models. As usual, Sony wins in the design stakes, with the built-in USB connection, robust construction, logical control layout, recessed OLED screen, excellent sound and stunning battery life. But even though Sony has relaxed enough to support MP3 and WMA tracks, the NW-E003 is still let down by the irritating SonicStage software you have to use it with. If you could just plug in and get your music, this would be an ideal player - everything we wish the iPod Shuffle was, and more.

The JVC Alneo XA-107 is more flexible. You can load it up with music by dragging and dropping files in Explorer, transferring it through Windows Media Player, or using your favorite music software. (If you want to play WMA tracks with DRM, make sure you copy them through Windows Media Player.) But the navigation is confusing, the sound isn't as good, and it's disappointing that a player twice the size of the Sony still uses a USB cable instead of having a built-in connection. If you need to record straight to your MP3 player the Alneo is convenient, even though you'd probably choose it for the color...

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