Thomson Lyra PDP2812

Try as it might, Thomson can't get it right.

Whenever a new Lyra arrives, Thomson never fails to remind us that it was instrumental in the development of MP3. However, its range of MP3 players has usually reminded us that it has never really come up with a way to squeeze this kudos into a top-notch portable product.

The PDP2812 is Thomson's new flagship player, and the latest model to marry a 5GB hard disk to a colour screen. It's certainly one of the better looking, with a smart, shiny finish, only marred by a rather odd scroll wheel that looks like it's made out of the same rubber you get on the bobbly side of a table tennis bat.

This and the square control button at the centre of the model spoil the good looks, and don't really help much in controlling the device either, as they share many tasks and it's never quite clear which one you should be using. Also, for a device that can display JPEG pictures taken with a digital camera, the colour screen is way too small.

MusicMatch comes supplied on a disc, but we found the Thomson worked better with Windows Media Player where it was recognised straight away, whereas MusicMatch said we needed an upgrade and redirected us to a web page with no information on it - not good enough really.

Things get better when the Thomson is actually playing music, as it's capable of providing good sound through the supplied Sennheiser headphones. It doesn't offer quite the detail of an iPod mini, but it's full-sounding, with reasonably deep bass and a not-too-harsh treble.

This is one of the best Lyra players yet, but it still can't win us over, especially as you can buy a 6GB iPod mini for £20 less.