Of course Sony want to do something about that – to take the mantle back. They follow up their excellent, yet flawed, NW-HD5 with another 20GB player – the NW-A3000.
It's a striking looking device, resembling a mercurial hockey puck, and the 1.5-inch Organic EL display forms a seamless part of the unit. Not only is this player smart looking, but the controls are logically arranged, and most users will find them incredibly intuitive.
It also boasts several features not found on the previous model such as an Intelligent Shuffle mode, an Artist Link mode and a Top 100 list. These all require use of the until-now maligned Connect player, and while a fun addition are not particularly compelling.
With a quick upgrade of the player's firmware, users will find the Sony player will support WMA files natively, which is a bonus for Windows users obviously.
And what of the sound? Well firstly, we were quite pleased with the bundled ear-buds. They're not as tizzy as some rivals, and actually have a decent amount of bass. But upgrading will still bring the usual benefits.
The sound of this player is a little warmer than other Sony players, and while music isn't presented with edge-of-your-seat thrills, it is reproduced truthfully and naturally. It's a dynamic performer which never draws attention to poorly encoded files, but plays them with as much fidelity as it can muster.
Ticks in all the boxes so far, but downsides? The menu system can be a little convoluted if all you want to do is play some music, it would have been helpful if the player defaulted to the phone-like menu rather than the "All Songs" menu. And the display is almost impossible to read in daylight without a lot of squinting and shielding the readout.
In all, this is a sturdy player with an excellent build and great sound, it may be a little heavier and bulkier than competitors, but this is insubstantial. And we've managed to go this whole review without mentioning the iPod. Oh … Damn.

Sony NW-A3000 MP3 Player | $449 |

For: Good sound; excellent design; rugged; WMA native
Against: One of the largest players on the market; some features only active when using Connect player; hard to use in bright light
Verdict: A player without peer for style, but a slightly stodgy specification and size may see it looked over for other feature-heavy players.