Philips HDD060

Small, hard-disk-based mp3 players are all the rage at the moment. This month, as well as Creative's Muvo2, we have Philips' HDD060. Around the same footprint as a credit card and as thick as a deck of cards, this player has a 1.5GB hard disk.

If looks are anything to go by, Philips is onto a winner. It fits perfectly in the hand and looks very stylish. However, it is usability that really counts.

For the most part, it's very good. The HDD060 uses ID3 tags to categorise music. From the home screen you can easily find a track by playlist, album, artist or genre. To make things easier when dealing with large numbers of tracks, Philips has included its Superscroll function, which first made an appearance on the HDD100. By holding down the scroll buttons, it causes a track list to be skipped by alphabetical letter, not individual track. It works really well and makes it simple to find a given track.

We were also impressed by the sound quality, especially when using the EQ settings and the bass boost. With around 10 hours of playback, it looks like an almost perfect player.

There are a few downsides. First, there's no resume function. If you stop playback during a playlist, for example, then you can't continue from where you left off next time you turn the power on.

The software for copying tracks isn't much cop, either. It's a Java app and is a little fiddly to use. There's no escaping from it either, as the HDD060 will only play tracks copied using this software. The stated reason is maintaining digital media rights.

Finally, a remote with a screen would be useful, but it's really a minor point. Aside from those little niggles, it's a top player at a good price.

Contact: Philips 0870 900 9070
www.philips.co.uk

Specifications:

• 1.5GB hard disk
• mp3 and wma playback
• USB2 interface
• LCD screen
• 10-hour playback
• 85 x 18 8 54 (mm) (w x d x h)
• 95g

See also:

Xen EMP-200

Another digital media player - is it any different or better than the others on the market?  24 Jun 2004

Legal music downloads

The music industry has finally worked out how to make money out of internet music downloads. But will legal online music services be as popular as P2P sites?  18 Jun 2004

Creative Muvo TX

Small and versatile, but only 256MB.  11 Jun 2004

Creative Zen Xtra

Use this creation from creative to take your music with you wherever you go.  27 Apr 2004

Benq Joybee 150

A good-looking player for music on the move.  02 Apr 2004

Creative Muvo2

Perfectly sized with lots of room for music.  09 Mar 2004

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