You may have thought that only expensive portable CD players would provide MP3 playback. Wrong!

The Sony D-NE320PS can play both MP3 and ATRAC compressed music files from a CD, allowing up to 490 songs on a single disc. The player comes with SonicStage software to create and burn CD with ATRAC and MP3 files, and software also lets users hook up with Sony's Connect Music Store to buy and download music files.

The D-NE320PS is part of Sony's Psyc product line, so it's a given that it's going to look sharp. There is a three-line LCD display with backlighting that makes it a breeze to navigate through the music folders stored on disc, and a five-direction control key helps the navigation along. A single AA battery offers up to 41 hours of playback performance when playing back ATRAC files, and an automatic on/off timer feature conserves battery power.

The D-NE320PS isn't a stripped down model, as it comes with a complete parametric equalizer to bring out the best sounds from digital music files and standard audio CD. Skip-free G-Protection prevents skips and bumps from disrupting music playback. Available in either electric white or stereo black, the Sony D-NE320PS is a very affordable way to get MP3 capabilities along with a competent CD player.

Warranty
1 year