MP3 players have really come of age and are the gadgeteers dream Creative Labs are one of the frontrunners in the MP3 player market vying for first position with the now dominant apple Ipod, however creative have a trick up their sleeves price!

Its not through skimping on specification that gets creative to be so competitive far from it, the Jukebox 3 has more features than the Sunday Times, supporting MP3, WMA and WAV replay for a start the 20gb disk provides ample storage for a good 8000 tracks of MP3's transfer of this amount of storage isn't slow either with USB and 1394 firewire connectivity to your PC. The USB connection is also used to enable the Jukebox to double up as a rather large mass storage device.

One of the limitations of the Ipod is its battery life (8hrs) Creative have worked hard on a combination of battery technology and power usage within the device to deliver an astounding 22hrs of replay with its dual battery configuration. While we cannot pretend that the Jukebox 3 is anywhere near as fashion conscious as the Ipod it is an improvement over the outgoing Jukebox 2, the LCD screen and navigation are much better with the addition of a scroll wheel to aid you in trawling through your library of tracks.

If you are a party animal the Creative Labs Jukebox 3 wins again with 2 line outputs on the unit itself (the Ipod needs its dock) so you can build playlists on the fly from scratch and DJ the party all from your pocket, sound quality is not compromised either in fact the Jukebox delivers clear crisp bass and clean top end reproduction with a surprising amount of warmth in vocal tracks. The creative jukebox is equipped with EAX creative equalizer software again better than that on the Ipod which is more of an audio distortion software, here it performs well offering a range of pre programmed set-ups or you can download a fully customisable version from the website that can be uploaded via USB.

A unique addition is the ability to directly record to the Jukebox 3, via optical or line in connections at bit rates varying from 64 kbps to 320 kbps, useful for voice memos at the low end to full audio capture at the highest bit rate. Creative have ensured that everything you need is bundled with the Jukebox from carry case, batteries and software for your PC to a remote control that includes an FM tuner with built in microphone. This really is a value for money bundle, its not quite an Ipod, it does lack style and finish but its well built, reliable and packed with features, one for feature over form and in this market that's a tough call. Having said all of this the price of under £200 compared to nearer £300 for the equivalent Ipod should seal it for all but the most fashion conscious MP3 buff.

• 20GB storage space holds up to 8000 songs encoded in WMA at 80kbps or 5000 MP3s encoded at 128kbps. 40GB of the storage space doubles that!
• High audio quality: 98dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio Playback
• Frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz
• Maximum output 100mW
• Analogue/Optical Line-In for direct high quality recording from external audio devices
• Firewire (IEEE 1394) and USB 1.1 Transfer
• Second Battery Bay: Up to 11 hours of continuous playtime with one lithium-ion rechargeable battery, up to 22 hours of uninterrupted playback with both batteries
• Smart Volume Management (SVM) for normalization of audio output
• Anti-skip protection of up to 7 mins for smooth listening
• EAX-enabled
• Creative File Manager - Use the player as a portable storage device
• Personalization features: LCD colour, faceplates, accessories, startup logos

 Creative Labs Jukebox 3 20Gb MP3 Player...