Nike isn't famous for innovative electronics, but is still happy to spread its brand beyond trainers and crevice-revealing baggy trousers. To achieve this, it's partnered itself with Rio, part of S3, a brand leader itself in the MP3 player market.

The PsaPlay120 sports (sorry!) more design effort than most MP3s. Like LG's Soul Digital, it's a two-part device, with the oval player linked to an oval remote control and thence to a pair of headphones which stick directly into your ears, rather than laying over them. Being Nike, the player is designed to go jogging with you and is rubber-coated, so should have some knock- and water-resistance. It also comes with an armband, so you can wear it over your holiday inoculations.

The main unit has no display at all, but controls are so simple that you can use the player without one. You simply fill the 64MB internal memory (and an optional Multimedia card for extra storage) with music tracks downloaded from your PC or Mac. Playback is simply a question of finding the appropriately embossed control on the player's front face.

If you don't like working blind, you can plug in the remote control and use the tiny LCD display to show track and battery life details. Software support comes in the form of the Nike Audio Manager, which can convert CD tracks to MP3 or WMA formats and download them to your player.

There's no doubt you're paying something for the Nike name here, but this is a worthwhile machine with useful added features if you need extra amusement while training.