SanDisk Sansa Fuze 8GB in Media Players

There are more iPod nano challengers on the market than we'd care to mention, but not many put up too much of a fight.

Creative's 8GB Zen is the leading alternative, but it lacks the luxury finish of Apple's nano.

SanDisk's Fuze comes much closer to that quality feel. There's a polished black front and a soft-touch rubberised rear and this, coupled with its excellent mechanical clickwheel system, makes it a pleasure to use.

It's expandable - you can add memory with a microSD card - and there's a decent FM tuner that lets you pre-set your 40 favourite stations and external mic, too.

It's not perfect, though: sound quality is lacking - it's on the harsh side; and the price, while reasonable, isn't quite cheap enough to replace either the Zen or nano in our affections.

Author: Jonathan Bray