[lighthouse]

Net MD wins this contest for a number of reasons.......................

1; iPODs have up to 40gb of disc space - but the power supply (non standard Li ion cells) last about 8 hours. Net MD works on one AA and for days on end. Oh and has anyone tried to open their MP3 player to replace a worn (expensive) battery?

2; SDRAM cards cost about £15 for 512mb - I can buy a pack of 10 x 80 minute discs for a tenner, and you can get at least 250mb of music on one of them (according to the playlist size rating on WMP).

3; CDs are fine - until they get scratched or grubby - and begin to deteriorate as soon as they're made. MD doesn't because it's protected by the casing so is quite robust to the usual problems CDs aren't.

4; Your MP3 player is full - but you want to include some more tunes on it. You can't unless you delete others. MD is full? - you just get a new disc and compile to your hearts content.

All in all this is a superb format and I'm surprised it isn't more widely used because of it. The only disadvantage is that you can't use the discs to download info or other media onto, but your digital camera can do that anyway!

[lighthouse]

The other thing that's a bit odd about MP3 is how you might painstakingly put together your superb WMP playlist - so that all the tunes work in sequence - and the component you put them onto rearranges them all in alphabetical order. So that cool sequence of dozens of songs you compiled doesn't amount to much. The MD programme installs the music as it appears in the list so once compiled you can hear it back in the order it's supposed to be. You can also add tunes to it and it will insert them where you want them - retaining the playback sequence you wanted.