My first portable (not quite a luggable) music playing device was a record player with its own built-in speaker (this was the time when mono was still the accepted standard).  It would play the rather larger and breakable records of the hits of that period while keeping my arm muscles well exercised through the need to wind-up the unit in order for it to work.

While speakers are meant to be listened to, there are times when you might like to consider their appearance as well as audio quality.  At least one manufacturer takes this viewpoint and attempts to add some style to its products.  That manufacturer is the Canadian-based Edifier Enterprises.

Although I have seen a couple before from other manufacturers in closed demonstration areas this is the first I have had one to review. The Sharp Soundbar measures 77x8x6cm the middle figure is with cables inserted. It should ideally sit just in front of your TV but it can sit anywhere within the two metre length of the supplied audio out cables from your TV. Two word of caution block the line of sight to your TV’s remote sensor that is normally along the front edge of the TV.

Wires? Not needed - simply hook up the Verbatim Audio Cube to your favourite Bluetooth equiped media player and you're away! Bluetooth has migrated from the mobile phone to the media player, although in many cases it is in fact the media player that has migrated to the phone! Either way some very good quality, high capacity media players now come equipped with Bluetooth (with of course the notable exception of the iPod range - come on Apple - catch up!).

The satellites are 13.5x12x10cm maximum at the base and the latter is only 3.5cm at the top. The sub woofer is 12x22x26cm but as it is side firing is the 26cm actually the face? The sub woofer is made of wood coloured matt black, it has a silver grey ring round the speaker and the feet are the same colour both are not wood. The satellites are plastic, black in colour with the same silver grey colour for the trim. A 1.5metre mains lead is hard wired into the back of the sub woofer.

This seems like an easy mix. Place your iPod in the wireless sender that fits around your iPod it sends signals to the speaker and sound comes out. Not what happened for me, I assumed (wrongly) that the speaker was faulty and a replacement was sent, still no joy. Then it was suggested I upgrade the firmware in my series one iPod Nano, now upgraded to version 1.31 all works correctly.

This is tiny and will easily fit in your pocket or purse. It is of course black and white in colour and near round. 4.5cm tall and 5cm wide and deep. There is a micro USB lead in the bottom to charge its internal solid battery. The top between its ears is a 3.5mm socket to connect your iPod or MP3 player to. Finally a slider switch to turn it on/off on the left side and a red LED on the right side when it is switched on with power. The box contains a 12cm 3.5 to 3.

Not just another wireless device. This is a set of earbuds with connections behind the ears linked by a wire behind the head. You then place your wireless device phone or whatever away in a pocket and no matter how vigoursly you jog or run the earbuds stay in your ears so no danger of losing your headset as the wire behind your neck holds the earbuds in place. All the controls are on the earpieces so it might be as well to study the manual before you depart so you what to press to control what.

Often it is easy to focus on a company’s main field of expertise with regards to products while you ignore other areas in which the company might be active.  I have to plead guilty to falling into this trap myself but in my defence I can put forward the excuse that, until very recently, I was totally unaware that Verbatim produced speaker systems.

Overall, the Verbatim system consists of a black cylinder which sits just in front of the monitor without seeming to intrude on one's workspace and is thus conveniently located for any number of purposes ranging from listening to music to using Skype.

Like a number of things from Brando this does two jobs. It looks just like a memory stick and is 5x2x1cm mine was transparent orange but they do other colours. It inserts in any normal USB socket (ver 1.1 or 2). Just above the bit that plugs in is a slit for you to insert a Micro SD card. The PC will then read it and you can add MP3 or WMA files to it. This action also charges the internal MP3 player. Remove the unit and plug earbuds (supplied) into the other end.

The former, as well as being mains powered, can be run from batteries. Hence, it is ideal for the person who needs more powerful sound, both at home and on the move, than the PC or MP3 player is able to provide. Consisting of a single base unit 9 x 7cm together with pair of units, roughly 10 by 5 cm, each of which incorporate 2 speakers. Four AAA cells fit in the base unit which also has the controls. These are volume up/down and power buttons together with a LED indicating when power is on.

Portable device, such as the various iPod models, MP3 players and mobile phones, were designed specifically for a personal listening experience with regards to the music stored on these types of devices.  Users, however, had other ideas and wanted to share their choice of music with friends and family.  As a result manufacturers came up with kit that can turn a personal device into one that can deliver content to numerous listeners.

This is a pair of speakers with what amounts to a sub woofer built into the units. So instead of a pair of speakers that require a separate unit to handle the bass these speakers do it without any extra assistance. These can be used with a PC or any other device needing output but they can also be used as out for an MP3 or iPod device. The two speakers are a similar size but the right one has on/off and volume controls on top and all the inputs. The two units are connected by a quite thick lead.

It is 26.5x10x12cm however the power lead protrudes 2.5cm from the rear thus increasing the middle figure the depth to 12.5cm. You will probably not be surprised to hear it is black. My iPod is white and this sits in the multi unit dock on the top increasing the third figure the height by 8cm however this will change according to the type of iPod you have.

Measuring 500 x 200 x 180mm (WxHxD) the iLuv i399 is by no means a shrinking violet. Despite it's size and indeed weight (around 6Kg) the manufacturer has decided to provide battery power as an option. I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to be lugging this around or using it away from mains power, however should you wish to so do you'll have to acquire eight 'D' sized batteries.

In the past I have made my feelings clear regarding the over-whelming number of audio devices that have been developed to support the various types of iPod units without giving much thought to the many users of MP3 players.  Being a fan of MP3 music format myself, I am always on the look out for products that treat both formats on a more or less equal basis.  It has to be admitted that this is often a thankless tasks that generally ends in disappointment.

The Intempo IDS-01 is available in black, silver and pink - I have the silver version here to test. The unit measures 240 x 120 x 90mm (WxHxD) and weighs a light 600g. Taking a traditional layout, the iDS-01 positions the iPod dock between the pair of stereo speakers. It's compatible with all the standard docking iPods, only excluding the Shuffle.