Chris's Christmas shopping: Q-BE MP3 Player

It may seem strange for a technology journalist to say this, but I would rather get a finely crafted little wooden horse made by a blind Victorian boy than an Xbox 360. Christmas presents were just better in Victorian times, and everything in that age was tasteful. Apart from the murders, smog, massive social divide etc. Generally, though... better.

If I lived in Victorian times, Christmas would be tolerable. I just hate the way that these days you'll start gazing at some attractive-looking lights on a street, thinking, "ooh, that's quaint", and then suddenly you'll realise that the lights aren't merely pretty, but they're advertising something at you. It's like no one cared about people enjoying the lights, they just wanted you to buy Ice Age on DVD.

So my second Christmas Crave choice is the 1GB Q-BE (also known as the Mobiblu) MP3 player. This is the sort of MP3 player a Victorian child might well have found jammed into his stocking, alongside a satsuma and some painted rocks. It has a jewel-like appearance and packs up to 320 MP3s into a box not much bigger than a sugar cube. We found it on sale for a very reasonable £99 from Dixons.

There's something about this player that reminds me of baubles and pine cones and wood knots crackling gently on an open fire. Hell knows where a Victorian child would find a USB port to charge the Q-BE, but I think he'd be content to use it as a building brick, or trade it for a warm cup of offal.

Chris has already bought these items:
Apple Power Mac G5 quad-core 
Q-BE MP3 Player

He has £2,601 to spend before Christmas Day.
Click here to find out more about Crave's Christmas shopping spree.

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