Five ways to tune in on the move
If you're thinking about buying Christmas presents, or just want to pick up a treat to keep you in touch when you travel, why not look at these five options?
Out this month is Sony's sexy NW-E10 Network Walkman. This lightweight digital music player offers up to 11 hours continuous playback from its built-in rechargeable battery. It has 128MB of built-in flash memory which means faster data access and skip-free music. It comes with a cradle-style USB docking station for high-speed downloading of sounds from the internet via a laptop. Around £300.
Sony Centre, 134 Baker Street, W1 (020 7486 2526).
News junkies can tune in to the BBC World Service on Roberts' new slimline R9921 digital world radio (right). This silvery sound machine has 27 station presets on MW/SW/FM stereo wavebands. For digital-display phobics, it shows the station's name. It has an alarm clock and comes with stereo earphones and a BBC World Service frequency guide. What more could you want for £65?
Stockists: 017 0957 1722.
You can store four hours of music on Rio 800, a portable digital audio player which has a whacking 128MB memory, voice recorder, rechargeable battery, remote control, earphones and USB cable. It supports MP3 and Windows Media Audio formats and can be upgraded for emerging audio file formats such as Audible and AAC. It's PC and Mac-compatible and works with other Rio accessories such as Backpack memory expansion packs, FM tuner and car-cassette adapter.
Available mid-November at £299.99 from Dixons.
Plantronics' folding digital PC headset plugs into a laptop (PC or Mac) for onthe-hoof playback of CD, MP3 or DVD audio. It comes with a CD software disk - just whack it into your laptop and off you go. There's an inline remote for volume control and other settings can be adjusted on screen. Use the microphone for internet chat, games and voice memos.
From Comet, £79.95. Call 084 5600 7002 for your nearest store.
Panasonic's portable LA95 DVD player is small, perfectly formed and out this month. Its 9in LCD display is big for portables but it weighs less than a kilo including the built-in rechargeable battery (two and a half hours of DVD playback or up to eight hours of DVD movies used with an optional battery pack). Unlike previous models it plays DVD video, DVD audio, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, CDs, CD-R, CD-RW and MP3 formats. Got that? Then you'd expect a price tag of £999.99 wouldn't you?
Stockists: 087 0535 7357.
