Verdict: The P750's innovative features can't quite make up for its lack of finesse

The P750 is the first hard drive-based MP3 player made by Aigo, and although it's fairly big and chunky, it makes a good first impression.

The case is curved at the bottom, so the P750 sits comfortably in your hand, and the centred tubular scroller is within easy reach of your thumb. The scroller is similar to that of a mouse and it has marked indexes, so you can be more accurate with it than you generally can with a touchpad device, such as that of the Zen Touch or iPod.

Despite its appealing black gloss finish, which is offset by the blue backlit LCD display, there's something about the P750's appearance that's off-putting and dated. However, Aigo supplies a leather case in the box, which doesn't impede access to the buttons and display, so it's easy to hide it away from any fashion-conscious iPod owners keen to ridicule it.

The interface is well designed to take advantage of the scroll button, and creating and scrolling through playlists is a breeze. While browsing through the track list, a mere click of the wheel toggles the selected file, enabling you to add a track to a playlist or play it instantly. If you don't like using ID3 tags, you can also browse the hard disk in directory structure mode. The only gripe we have with playback is the slight delay before it starts playing.

Unique to the P750 is the SD/MMC slot in the base. While in directory mode, you can transfer data from a SD/MMC card directly to the hard disk for safekeeping. This could be useful for storing digital photos from your camera when on holiday. You'll have to take the charger with you on holiday, though, because the P750's battery life is below par.

At £217 for the 20GB model, the P750 is roughly the same price as the Apple iPod and Rio Karma. The P750 has some features that the other two lack, including a FM tuner and direct encoding through the line-in and integrated microphone. The addition of an in-car charger is appreciated, as are the reasonably good-quality headphones, although sound quality is only average.

However, while the SD/MMC slot and other features are nice, the P750's fate is decided by its poor battery life and lack of finesse compared with other players.

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