Hoorah! Finally we find an MP3 player that displays the track name on the LCD screen.

The D'Music player (an earlier version of which we've reviewed here) looks very similar to the Rio player. In terms of functionality it doesn't differ much either - there's random and A-B play, for example, alongside repeat play. But the casing is made out of a strange plastic that feels better to the touch.

Sound quality was also very good indeed, with the in-ear headphones producing a clear sound. We reckon that perhaps it wasn't quite as punchy and well-defined as the Rio, but it was close.

The usual three EQ modes are available and are accompanied by a frequency bar display on the LCD panel showing which parts of the sound are beefed-up. There's also an 'Ex-Bass' mode which effectively gives a MegaBass effect.

Like the Philex player, the D'Music player is able to record voice via a built-in microphone although, unlike the Philex machine, there's no line-in to record from an external source. Once again the recorded sound quality is poor although Pine claim that you will get around 2 hours and 15 minutes recording time before you fill the memory, which is not bad going.

The software lacks sparkle and has much of the rough and ready feel of the Philex player. The songs take a long time to transfer to the machine, too. Downloading eight or so songs takes a good fifteen minutes, whereas with the Rio 300 it takes around five. The Pine D'Music runs on two AAA batteries.

Pine - D'Music price

£90 + VAT