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Apple iPod (30GB)

Price range: $227-299

The good: Video looks great on the sharp, clear screen. Slim design. Well-integrated with iTunes. Excellent new audio recording features.

The bad: Still no pan and zoom for photos. Audio recording requires adapter. Optional, proprietary Apple AV cable costs $20.

The bottom line: It's the same excellent music player, but with the added bonuses of video support, audio recording capabilities, and enhanced audio quality.

Creative Zen Vision: M (30GB)

Price range: $269-300

The good: Short battery life. Requires a dongle to sync, charge, and output to TV.

The bad: Good design. Excellent screen. Very good audio and video quality. Broad feature set.

The bottom line: The Zen Vision:M is our new favorite iPod alternative and should appeal to lots of people, but we have a feeling it's still not going to sway the iPod-loving masses.

Toshiba Gigabeat S (30GB)

Price range: $252-300

The good: Very good sound quality. Videos and photos look excellent. Interface is polished and easy to use. Very attractive. Supports WMA Lossless.

The bad: Buttons on the side should be on the front or integrated with the cross-shaped controller. No voice recorder. Short battery life for audio playback. No Audible support.

The bottom line: I'm a little disappointed by the gigabeat's short battery life and the lack of a voice recorder, but you get your money's worth with a high-quality, elegant audio/video player that has plenty of style and polish.

SanDisk Sansa e260 (4GB)

Price range: $175-240

The good:Removable battery. Sturdy shell. Very good audio quality. Easy to use. Expandable storage. Extensive feature set. Strong FM tuner.

The bad:Playlisting features aren't great. Buttons are slightly difficult to press. No lossless support. Loading music in USB mode causes erratic behavior. Requires separate apps for loading music and visual media.

The bottom line:The e260 has an excellent combination of features, style, ease of use, and price, but the overall user experience still isn't quite as smooth as that of the iPod nano.

Philips GoGear HDD6330 (30GB)

The good: Beautiful design. Good sound quality and earbuds. Voice and FM recordings are clear.

The bad:Sometimes-slow interface. Bulky proprietary USB cable/charger combo. Battery life could be better. Line-in recording requires optional dock.

The bottom line:This is an ultra-stylish MP3 player with a broad feature set but an interface that leaves a bit to be desired.

Cowon iAudio X5L (30GB)

Price range: $289-303

The good: Small size; video player with 260,000-color LCD; customizable wallpaper; FM radio; line-in and voice recording; photo viewer; text-file reader; excellent sound quality; reads photos directly from digital cameras; compatible with OGG and FLAC formats, as well as subscription WMA tracks.

The bad: Must plug in an adapter to attach AC, line-in, and USB cables; so-so control layout; can't autosync music with a PC; can't browse by artist, album, or genre; many video files need to be converted to play on X5; no autoscanning presets for FM radio.

The bottom line: The great-sounding Cowon iAudio X5 looks like an iPod killer on paper, but this palm-size music and video player suffers from mediocre music browsing and some key design missteps.

iRiver H10 (20GB)

Price range: $149-300

The good:Easy to use. Convenient extra features. Bass enhancement works well.

The bad :Line-in recording requires optional cradle. No removable battery. Photos look bad. No on-device file deletion.

The bottom line:iriver has dumbed down its H300 series in search of mass appeal, and the results aren't particularly impressive.

Apple iPod shuffle (1GB)

Price range: $49-70

The good: Very light weight. Top-notch audio performance. Recharges from USB. Can automatically update itself with fresh songs.

The bad: No navigation display, preferences, or settings. A little too minimal for music explorers. Loud enough to cause hearing damage if you're not careful.

The bottom line:Probably the best flash player without a display, the iPod shuffle has excellent audio performance, a low price, a near-weightless design, and interesting random-load/random-play features.