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Digital audio players that make use of flash memory are perfect for exercising because they contain no moving parts, so it will just be you that is skipping and jumping while in the gym.
The Sandisk Sansa e140 is just such a device and its 1Gb memory will hold approximately 240 MP3 songs. It's smaller and lighter than a pack of cards and will easily slip into a tracksuit pocket. There's also an SD memory card slot to add additional memory if required.
As well as being able to play MP3 and WMA digital music files, the e140 also supports Microsoft's PlayforSure standard, which means that WMA files downloaded from legal music sites such as Napster, Rhapsody and Audible will play without any problem.
The Sansa e140 comes with a built-in FM radio with 20 presets and, because it uses solid-state memory, the battery life is excellent at around 12 hours on one AA battery.
The sound quality isn't great but the supplied headphones are quite decent, which is a disappointing contradiction. This is somewhat helped by the bass-boost option, which can enhance deep tones in poor-quality digital audio files.
The navigation buttons and menus aren't as intuitive as Creative or Apple products, but are perfectly useable once you get used to them.
For £110, it seems pretty expensive, especially considering that Apple's sublime-looking 2Gb iPod Nano is only slightly dearer at £139.
See also:
A real jack-of-all-trades when it comes to media, with a price tag to match 05 Jan 2006
Full of media-centric features and priced extraordinarily well for what it offers 12 Dec 2005
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