Product Reviews

Philips' 256MB PS110 Shoqbox is no bigger than a sunglasses case, but it's crammed with a flash-based MP3 player, FM radio, battery, amplifier and speakers. It belts out amazingly powerful sound for such a compact device, and while it's unlikely to have the neighbours banging on the wall, it's loud enough for the beach or garden. The sound has a surprising amount of bass, which is impressive considering the size of the speakers.

But while the sound quality is good

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the Shoqbox is frustrating to use. It was slow to respond to key presses, and the interface lacks polish. By far the worst thing, though, is the process of transferring files with the supplied Musicmatch software, which is very slow indeed. Transferring 207MB of files took nearly 17 minutes. The Shoqbox has only a USB1.1 connection, but Musicmatch halves the speed of that connection.

The integrated battery lasted 13 hours and 49 minutes when playing MP3s and WMAs at a moderate volume in our test. With storage for only five albums, though, the PS110 could play each three times on a single charge.

There's no memory card slot to boost the storage capacity, but you can use the line input for other MP3 players or switch to the built-in radio. Without an extending aerial, though, you'll be lucky to find a station. We managed to get a signal only with headphones plugged in, which defeats the point of having speakers.

It's hard to fault the player's excellent sound and generous battery life, but irritations elsewhere make it impossible to love.