I was interested to read that PC Pro magazine has this month published a review of the top 18 portable MP3 players. The market leader is by far the Apple iPod so it was a surprise to see the iPod not even making the top 5. Although the iPod generally scores well on looks, style and ease of use, it falls down on price and battery life. Some of the other models now available have a battery life that is around 2 - 3 times as long and cost considerably less. This is in addition to the scare stories that appeared recently about the iPod’s built-in rechargeable battery needing replacement after about 18 months at quite a high cost. People who have iPods absolutely love them but I’m not so sure it would be my first choice and PC Pro have just convinced me even more.
Continue reading ‘MP3 Hard Disk Jukeboxes’
Archive for May, 2004
I’ve been helping a friend choose a 17” LCD computer monitor. Although I’m still sticking to my trusty old CRT monitors it was interesting to have a look around at what’s available today.
Continue reading ‘AOC LM727 17″ LCD/TFT Monitor’
I confess, I have become a bit of a coffee snob. For literally years I tried to perfect the art of making great coffee without much success. I’ve tried different brands of coffee, different filters, different machines and different quantities of the raw ingredient, but with only mediocre results.
You can literally spend hundreds of pounds on espresso machines, so despite my previous success with coffee machines I decided to have a look for a new espresso machine on ebay. Much to my surprise I found a screen full of decent branded European machines (the Europeans definitely make the best espresso) on ebay going for some very reasonable prices. After a bit of Google based research I decided to go for a Krups machine, either a Krups Artese or a Krups Muvo. The Muvo would probably be a little cheaper and looks nicer but the Artese seems like it will heat quicker. I decided to go for better performance, if the Artese ended up being too ugly it would just have to live in the cupboard when it’s not in use.
Continue reading ‘Krups Artese 2 Espresso Coffee Machine’
