There are bonuses if you are buying the Archos because cash really is short, however. It doubles as music, photo and video player, with support for (deep breath) MP3, JPEG, BMP, GIF, MPEG-4 AVI, FLV, MPG, RM, RMVB, FLV, MP4, DAT, VOB, MKV, and MOV (up to HD 720p). Music sounds okay - certainly not an audiophile experience, but about what you'd expect from a basic . Video and photos? Well, if you don't mind them not looking great, the Archos will play them. Let's leave it at that. And remember that using this gadget as a multimedia device will have an impact on the storage and battery life.

Our verdict:

It's cheap, but does the Archos 7od eReader represent good value? Perhaps. If you are the sort of person who doesn't mind the occasional glitch, is comfortable sourcing content from here there and everywhere, and doesn't mind a fuzzy backlit screen, the Archos has sufficient features and capabilities to feel like an absolute bargain. For everyone else, the extra £30 to get a Kindle will be worth saving up for.