Cowon iAudio X5

The PMP that's desperately searching for an identity.

Like the pig from Babe, this music box seems to be suffering from an identity crisis. Initially it strikes you as a straightforward hard-disk MP3 player, but when you delve into its features list you find it also shows photos and plays back movie files.

In truth the screen really isn't up to the task when it comes to photo or movie viewing. It produces vivid colour and has a decent resolution, but it's simply too small to make you want to sit through a full episode of a TV show, let alone a movie.

It's just as well in a way, because all movies have to be specially converted using the JetAudio application that's bundled with the player - and the conversion process is relatively slow.

Things improve when it comes to audio performance. The device sounds great thanks to the full-bodied bass and precise high-end performance, and battery life is good at 14 hours. However, the user interface is poor. There's no way to browse the library by category such as artist or album; instead you have to navigate by folder and file name. Another problem is that, although it supports protected WMA files, it isn't compatible with the Janus system, so you can't use it with Napster To Go.

This is a stylish-looking jukebox that has bags of features, but the confusing menu system means that only the most determined of folk are going to get the most out of it.