iRiver Lplayer 8GB review

iRiver's Lplayer is the cheapest 8GB player here, costing £10 less than the same company's E100 and Philips' GoGear. Despite this, its distinctive controls make it look more expensive.

The Lplayer's controls differ from the buttons and touch screens of the other players here. As with the Philips GoGear 2GB, the edges of the Lplayer's screen act as buttons. While this looks good, it feels gimmicky and impractical, as your hand can obscure the screen as you navigate the interface. The buttons don't feel very responsive, and it's easy to overshoot when browsing through long menus. The top-mounted volume controls are small and hard to press, especially if you have large fingers.

Music sounds clear and detailed if you use a good pair of earphones. Unfortunately, the included earphones lack bass and sound muffled, so you will want to replace them. The Lplayer's battery lasted a long 23 hours and 18 minutes when playing music.

Videos looked crisp on the Lplayer's 2in screen, and unfinished videos resume playing from where you left them. The battery lasted five hours and 24 minutes when playing videos. This is unimpressive compared with some of the other players here, but you're unlikely to want to watch epic movies on the 2in 320x240-pixel screen anyway.

The integrated FM radio sounded much clearer than the radios built into some of the more expensive players here. It's a shame that scanning for stations and saving presets can be frustratingly imprecise because of the fiddly buttons.

The Lplayer may seem attractive if you're on a particularly tight budget and want the highest capacity player with a built-in FM radio for the least money possible. However, you'll be frustrated by the Lplayer's fiddly controls and disappointing earphones. Better 8GB players, such as Philips' GoGear, cost only a few pounds more. The Lplayer is simply outclassed by the competition.