Samsung's YP-K3 is in the 'thin and sleek' class of mobile music players. The black fascia surrounded by a silver frame should appeal to those who are into minimalism in a big way, while the small and thin overall proportions are also attractive. At 96mm tall by 44mm wide, 6.95mm thick and 50g in weight it is not, however, quite a match for the 90 x 40 x 6.5mm and 42g of Apple's iPod Nano.

We got the 4GB version of this player to review, though there is also a 2GB version if you have less cash or simply don't need all that storage. Be warned, though, that the internal storage is your upper limit. Unlike a viable alternative to this player, SanDisk's Sansa e200 series of players, the YP-K3 does not support plug-in memory cards. The 4GB Sansa e260 comes in at around £90 online as we write, incidentally.

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As well as a music player (for MP3 and WMA format files only), the YP-K3 has a photo viewer that copes with JPEG files, and an FM tuner. The photo viewer isn't much to write home about, to be honest, as the 1.8-inch screen just isn't big enough to make showing pictures to your friends a truly viable option. The FM radio has its place, though, and we'd like to see all players equipped with one.

But it is the music playback and general track handling that really matter. There's a couple of settings you can apply to tracks alongside the 'normal' sound output; vocal, bass boost, 3G sound and concert hall. They didn't seem to make a huge difference to music playback, but we found the general quality was pretty good through the supplied in-ear headphones.

We'd have liked a customisable setting or two on the equaliser, but then we'd also have liked support for more music formats, the ability to display album art and the ability to record audio. We aren't concerned about the lack of video playback, but some people might be.

We came to the YP-K3 with some trepidation because it has touch-sensitive controls and we often find these somewhat difficult to handle. However, this time around we were pleasantly surprised.

The whole device fades to black after a short period of non-use of its controls, and a quick tap of the area beneath the screen causes the controls area and the screen to light back up. There are seven controls: four directional arrows, a central select/play/pause button, a back button and a menu button. They are beautifully deep blue and white in colour and, more importantly, well spaced and responsive. They are among the best touch controls we've used.

The only mechanical button is a combination hold and on/off switch on the right-hand edge. The bottom edge houses the USB connector for your PC and earphones jack. PC-wise you get software for converting image files to JPEG format and transferring music. Windows Media Player 10 is also bundled. Samsung quotes 20 hours of battery life and we got through a couple of days between charges.

This isn't the most versatile, the smallest or the least expensive music player in its class. Its sleek black fascia gathers fingerprints. And some people might not like the touch controls. But it does have a certain panache and its sound quality is pretty good.