Advent MP128

Good MP3 Player, Good Sound Output, Good battery life approx 12 hours with a decent brand battery. The only probelm is that the neck strap get easily twisted and and the headphones are built into it and cannot be removed. My advice is to buy the MP3 player and get new headphones.

The Advent MP128 was my first venture in to the world of portable MP3 players - I'd never tried one before but was tired of jogging with my cd player so I knew I had to get one eventually, and I'm glad I did!

The first thing that strikes you about it is how well it fits in your hand. The cool blue backlight to the LCD screen looks funky as well. Not having used one before, I wasn't sure how it connects to my computer, but you just pull the end off to reveal a plug that you pop in to the USB port on your PC. If you're using anything other than Windows 98, your computer will automatically pick it up and install it. It's then simply a case of dragging and dropping the music files in to the 'removable storage device' that will appear in 'My Computer'. The MP128 will then show on its screen that it's having files written on to it - and that's it! You're done.

It can store WMA as well as mp3 files and you can fit about 40 songs on to it. As the name suggests, it has 128Mb of memory and to be honest, that's all I need. I know you can get 40Gb on some portable mp3 players but I don't need anywhere near that amount.

One thing I had a little trouble with (and curiously the instructions mentions nothing about this) would have to be the headphones. They work well enough but they're attached to a neck cord, which you (funnily enough) hang around your neck. This then left me with the apparent problem of the MP128 just hanging in mid-air on the end of the cord. Just above where the headphones go in to the device, there was a curious looking disk about the size of a 10 pence piece and had a small cord coming out of it.

For the life of me I could not understand what this was for!

It then occurred to me - the cord coming from the disk was to attach to the MP128 so it hung from that and not from the headphone plug. A very cool idea! So instead of this thing bouncing about in your pocket, it hangs securely from your neck and keeps out of your way!

The MP128 has a built-in microphone for voice recording and the screen has a very easy-to-use menu and all the features (such as the 4 stage pre-set graphic equalisers) are in easy access. The battery life was quoted at 13 hours; I found it to be a little less than that. Still, they throw in a free battery to get you started!

The controls are easy to use also, and the volume is nice and responsive, no complaints there.

All in all, this was a very good buy at £50 considering what you get for it. No doubt it will continue to tumble in price but I don't mind - I've got the mp3 player I really wanted!