Everyone in the wired world is talking about MP3, and how easy it is to download freely-available but illegally-recorded music from the Internet and play it on your computer. But what if the only PC you use is in the office, or in your cold spare room at home, where it is inconvenient for you to listen to the illegally-recorded tracks? Oh, you can download the illegally-recorded music, fine and well, but then you miss out on the thrill of feeling personally responsible, if only in a small way, for causing annoyance to thousands of grasping, incredibly wealthy record label executives.

Well, now you can upset those pony-tailed music industry rich-weirdo types all day, every day, with the portable MP3 player. Simply download up to 60 minutes of music onto the MP3 player, stick it in your pocket, and away you go. At 68 grammes, the Rio weighs about as much as a bar of chocolate, and needs just one AA battery for 12 hours of continuous play.

You can even use the player for legal purposes, and listen to music on which you personally own the copyright; but it would be irresponsible for this column to encourage such behaviour.

The Rio MP3 player, around £159 (€202), is available from Peats, and other electronics outlets.