Labs

Apple once described the iPod nano as 'impossibly small', but this second-generation shuffle is three times smaller. It looks like a clip-on remote control, but 1GB of flash memory, battery and electronics are all built into this postage stamp-sized player. It's available in five colours, and like all iPods it can be engraved with a personal message if you buy it from the Apple Store website, which you may as well, since you won't find it discounted more than a pound or two elsewhere.

In the absence of a screen, there's just a pair of track skip buttons for track selection. With room for around 250 tracks, jumping between albums can be a chore; holding both the buttons ought to do this. However, the shuffle is sold on its random playback feature. There's a dedicated switch to activate this (on the left, below), and you can also fill the player with a random selection from your iTunes library.

The sound quality from the player itself was excellent, but the headphones lacked bass and the shuffle has no EQ options to compensate for this. We'd recommend budgeting at least another £10 for better headphones.