Apple can take credit for single-handedly carving out and then dominating the MP3 player market-to the extent that I know retail staff who are asked questions about MP3 players from companies like Creative, which are addressed generically as being "iPod's".

But now that they've created a lucrative market, Apple has opened the door for other contenders to weigh in with their own designs. Some are just bog-standard iPod clones at half the price, while others have put some pretty nifty ideas on top of the standard MP3 player format.

Today we're going to take a look at a couple of these alternative offerings, to see what the market can offer up that's not Apple.

Q-BE - Now With Added "Getting Lost Down The Back Of The Couch" Features

The Q-BE purports to be the worlds smallest MP3 player, and we believe the claim. The 0.6 ounce (18 g) 1 cubic inch wonder raised a few eyebrows and exacted more than one "Wow" when it arrived in the office.

The size of the Q-BE can't be overestimated-if you'll pardon the contradiction-and on more than one occasion we thought we had lost it when in fact it was sitting within arm's reach. I had to spend a good frantic minute searching for it on my desk when it was obscured beneath the complimentary note the PR person had enclosed in the package. Don't even talk to me about the five minutes I had to spend groping around my bedroom looking for it before heading into the office one dark December morning.

The small size is cute, but might raise concerns. At first glance one might equate small to difficult usability, poor quality and a lack of features. However, for the most part, you would be wrong to think of the Q-BE as an inferior product due to its size.

The small cube has a bright OLED screen to the front, which displays all the information you'll need in a fairly clear manner. However, you might take a minute or two-as we did-to get used to all the information that the MP3 player tries to give you on its rather small 2/3" (19 mm) screen. Because of its size we won't begrudge the screen a little clutter, and once you're used to using it, the information displayed on the screen gives you everything you need without any hassle.

To the sides of the screen are, on one side, the menu and hold buttons, and on the other the play/pause, track forward/reverse and volume up/down buttons; the play button is in the middle with the other buttons surrounding it. If we could pick out one problem with the Q-BE's design, it is that given its small size, anyone with big fingers might have trouble with the controls. They do require a certain amount of finesse beyond what you'd need to wield a larger MP3 player.