Labs

On paper, the S10 is a beautifully conceived player. It has almost exactly the same dimensions as the tiny iPod shuffle, but includes a colour screen for library management. The screen can display photos too, and there's an FM radio and voice recorder function. As with the iPod shuffle, there's no room for a dedicated USB socket, so the headphone socket doubles up for this purpose. Sadly, there isn't room for a decent sized battery - the S10's nine-hour life between charges is disappointing.

The hierarchical menu system is straightforward, and selections are made simply by clicking the four edges of the screen. Music libraries are browsed by folders only, but the supplied software keeps folders well structured and tracks are played in the right order regardless of their file names.

The supplied headphones' sound quality is well above average, so it's disappointing that their neck strap design forces you to wear the player like a medallion - extremely uncool, in our humble opinion. The player itself sounds excellent, though, with a clean and detailed sound and no hint of distortion except at very loud volumes.