GET INTO THE GROOVE

Until recently, if you wanted to download music, you had to do it illegally, using a file-sharing program. There are now a host of record label-sponsored services through which you can pay for your music online.

The big two in the UK are Napster, which offers unlimited downloading for a monthly fee (although you must pay extra to copy tracks to a CD),and Apple's iTunes, which is suitable for iPod users. Others include Wippit and Bleep, which have a good selection of non-mainstream and specialist music, and those run by ISPs such as MSN Music Club and Wanadoo Music Club.

Before you download, make sure that the music you buy will work with your portable music player, if you have one. Any tracks bought from these services are perfectly legal, but remember that sharing copyrighted music in other ways is illegal.

Apple iPod Mini £179
The iPod is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing music downloading into the mainstream, and the iPod Mini is the latest and smallest incarnation of the famous music player. Undeniably the best-looking player around, it has 4Gb of storage and uses Apple's free iTunes music player software.

It comes in five colours and is snug enough to fit any pocket, making the iPod Mini a very desirable Christmas present for any music-lover.
Contact: Apple 0800 039 1010 www.apple.com

Intempo KTB-01 £80
Digital audio broadcasting (DAB), more commonly known as digital radio, is now available in most of the country, but you will need a special radio to receive the broadcasts. Pick up any of the large selection of channels with this stylish portable DAB radio, which gives high-quality sound even at high volumes.
Contact: Intempo Digital 0161 924 0300 www.intempo-digital.co.uk

Napster gift certificates From £20
Introduce your kids to the world of legal music downloading with these gift vouchers from Napster, giving access to a library of about one million songs. Green vouchers enable you to stream unlimited music and listen to it for the duration of the subscription.

Blue vouchers add the ability to copy the material to a CD or portable device. Vouchers are available at Dixons stores and at branches of the Post Office, as well as online via the Napster service.
Contact: Napster www.napster.co.uk

Creative Zen Xtra £350
If the 40Gb offered by the largest iPod isn't enough for you, the 60Gb on the Zen Xtra is the largest amount of storage offered by a portable music player at the moment. It's a bit bigger and slightly heavier than the iPod but it's easy to use and has a large screen.

If you're looking for somewhere to put that huge music collection, look no further. The battery life of 15 hours means you won't run out of steam.
Contact: Creative 0800 376 7954 www.creative.com

Philips DGX220 USB speakers £35
If you have a notebook computer and want to improve the sound, or you don't have a sound card and can't face opening up the PC to install one, these Philips speakers may be the answer.

They plug in to a spare USB port and work straight from the off because they contain their own sound card, so you don't have to worry about installing one on the computer.
Contact: Philips 0870 900 9070 www.philips.co.uk

Zalman 5.1 headphones £58
Don't have the room for a set of surround-sound speakers? If you find that movies and games on your PC sound rather flat on just two speakers, plug in a pair of these headphones for the surround effect beamed straight into your head.

It's not as scary as it sounds and the headphones offer high-quality sound that feels real. You will need a 5.1 sound card on your PC to get the surround effect, but if you have one these are a good investment.
Contact: Zalman 0870 321 4620 www.zalmanusa.com

WITHOUT WIRES

Nowadays, you don't have to use wires to connect most of your components to each other. Many computers, handheld devices, phones, headsets, speakers, media players, mice and keyboards come with wireless capabilities, meaning that you can have them in different rooms of your house and let them talk to each other without having to trail ugly network cables all over the place.

The most common standard has the rather unhelpful name 802.11, more commonly known as Wi-Fi. It comes in various formats, the most common being 802.11b and its faster 802.11g cousin. Most models now on sale offer both standards in one and the signals can usually cover a whole house.

On the other hand, keyboards and mice tend to use radio frequency (RF) signals, which have a much lower range. Another low range standard is Bluetooth, which is used to connect phones, handheld computers, headsets and some keyboards and mice. It is more secure and stable than RF, but is also more expensive.

Logitech DiNovo Media Desktop £200
Logitech's DiNovo uses Bluetooth for wireless communications between keyboard, mouse and PC. In addition to being a simple and stylish keyboard and mouse, however, the DiNovo will also act as a controller for your digital media on the computer.

The numeric keypad part of the keyboard is separate from the rest, and can be used as a remote control for the computer. Since it uses Bluetooth, it will even work from another room.
Contact: Logitech 020 7309 0127 www.logitech.com

TomTom Go £500
If you want to track where you're going all over the world, you can hook up a GPS unit to a suitably equipped handheld or notebook computer. But the TomTom Go takes the hassle out of having to connect a computer and configure everything, because it all comes in one box.

It's designed to sit in the car and provide maps and directions. The maps come on memory cards, so there's no need for a computer at all.
Contact: TomTom www.tomtom.com

Acer N30B £180
The Pocket PC variety of handheld computer is typically larger and thicker than the Palm types, but the Acer n30 goes some way to remedying this by being very thin and stylish. It also comes with built-in Bluetooth and infrared networking, and you can plug in a Wi-Fi networking card for total access.

You can even link it to a mobile phone via Bluetooth for internet access on the move. You should contact your phone provider to make sure that it's compatible first, though.
Contact: Acer 01753 699200 www.acer.co.uk

Apple AirPort Express £99
The AirPort Express, similar in design to Apple's famous iPod, is an attempt to make the difficult business of setting up a wireless network easier. Its main function is to act as a bridge between your hi-fi and computer, so that you can stream music from one to the other. But it also acts as a wireless access point, and you can plug a printer into it and locate your printer anywhere in the house.
Contact: Apple 0800 039 1010 www.apple.com

Ozenda 11g Wireless Router £71
Once you have your broadband connection up and running, how do you share it out to all the computers around the house without running ugly network cables all over the place? The answer is wireless networking, and the Ozenda 11g combines an easy to install wireless access point with an ADSL modem in one affordable and good-looking case.
Contact: Ozenda 01442 263800 www.ozenda.com

LET'S GET BUSY

Acer Ferrari 3200 £1,499
If you want a notebook that makes a personal statement, the Ferrari 3200 makes a very strong impact with its bright red lid and racing ancestry. The notebook has been designed by the Ferrari team and this is clear for all to see. The Ferrari 3200 is powered by an AMD Athlon 2800+ with 512Mb of memory and an 80Gb hard disk.

An ATi Mobility Radeon 9700 gives good gaming performance if you need to relax on the move. The screen itself is excellent. The keys are arranged to a slight curve which makes typing surprisingly comfortable and the touchpad has a four-way scroll button. Bundled software includes CD writing utilities and a trial of Norton AntiVirus.
Contact: Acer 0870 900 2237 www.acer.co.uk

Microsoft Works Suite 2005 £110
If you want one software package to cover your entire home computing needs, Microsoft Works Suite 2005 does it all bar video editing. A full copy of Word XP is included for word processing and Works 8 takes care of spreadsheets, databases and contacts.

The Works Task launcher includes lots of templates for projects. Encarta 2005 takes care of homework research and AutoRoute 2005 will give you directions for most of western Europe. Money will keep you up to date with your finances and can download bank statements from the internet.

Photo Premium organises your photos and will correct any flaws they might have. If your computer didn't come with much software, this is the best investment you could make.
Contact: Microsoft UK 0870 60 10 100 www.microsoft.com/uk

Serif WebPlus 9 £60
Just about every internet service provider offers free web space and Serif WebPlus 9 is a great way of making the most of it. Unlike some web design packages, there is no need to learn the programming code for websites and you can arrange everything just like you would in Word.

There is a resource disc packed with templates and clip art that you can use in your website. Themes are like templates but you can quickly apply them to websites to change colours or fonts. WebPlus does lack some advanced features but it is ideal for home users wanting to make their first impression on the internet.
Contact: Serif 0800 376 7070 www.serif.co.uk

Creative WebCam Nx Ultra £60
Broadband means that video chat is really possible and it is included free of charge in lots of programs including MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. The WebCam NX Ultra is equally at home on top of TFT monitors or older CRTs. A focusing ring allows you to set up a sharp picture and there is a button for quick snapshots. The resolution of the camera is 640 x 480, which is quite adequate for online video.

The software provided with the WebCam NX Ultra lets you use it as a security camera, taking pictures when a motion detector is tripped. It's even possible to have the software email you the pictures when they are taken. You can also organise your pictures with the PC-Cam centre.
Contact: Creative www.creative.com

Toshiba E400 £229
The Toshiba e400 impressed us by being powerful and astonishingly slim for a handheld computer. It bucks the trend for silver cases with a stylish purple colour scheme with silver buttons. There is 64Mb of main memory which you can supplement with an SD card in the side of the Pocket PC if you wish.

Toshiba has included lots of its own software which is all very useful, especially the Today screen that has links to running software and the amount of power left in the battery. There's a headphone socket on the top of the e400 and the shortcut buttons double as Media Player controls when listening to music on the move.
Contact: Toshiba 0870 444 8943 www.toshiba.co.uk