MPIO One (256MB, red)

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You get FM radio with the MPIO One, and while the reception usually has a little static, it's not so bad that it interferes with your listening. You can store up to 30 favorite stations and record WMA tracks from the FM radio. If you feel confident braving the controls, you can even set timed recordings.

Advanced users could also try using the included desktop software to pair lyrics with music tracks, which will then display on the screen for karaoke fun, but there are no instructions for it, and the software is awfully forbidding. The player offers line-in and voice recording, and it comes with a simple logic game called Push Rush, which involves moving objects into their correct places in the fewest possible moves.

The MPIO One's manual should do a good job of clearing up most questions (try getting along without it), but should you need more help, you have a few options. A handy card in the box offers the e-mail address for technical help, and we got responses quickly, usually in the same day. There's no phone support, unfortunately. The support area of the site contains software downloads, although the FAQ link was broken at the time of this writing.

While the MPIO One's menus can be confusing, they're quick and responsive in use, so there's no downtime. Sound quality is below average, but that's mainly due to the included earbuds, which made music sound highly compressed and a little fuzzy. Investing in better ones is a must for those with discerning ears. When we swapped in our favorite headphones, sound quality improved, and we experienced good tonal range and decent bass response. Transfer time over USB 2.0 was a nice 6.7MB per second.

Watching video on the MPIO One is possible but not a pleasure. Watching for longer than 10 minutes left us feeling cross-eyed. As mentioned, radio reception isn't strong, and we usually detected at least a touch of static.

In CNET Labs' tests, we got more than 13 hours of music playback and more than 6 hours of video playback with the MPIO One's included lithium-polymer battery, but we were startled by this sentence from the manual: "Do not charge the battery past the specified time. It may cause a fire." Now that's a drawback if we've ever seen one. In fact, it should give pause to anyone who likes to charge their music player while they sleep. For the compulsive among us, risk of fire is reason enough to choose an iPod or other noncombustible device.

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