In-flight entertainment: best MP3 players and PVPs for air travel

When you're gearing up for air travel, be sure to pack some digital entertainment along with your travel pillow.

An MP3 player or a Portable Video Player (PVP) can help you while away the hours spent in airport terminals, crammed into your airplane seat -- just make sure you bring a gadget with a decent battery life or a user-replaceable battery. Consider the Sony NW-HD5, a simple MP3 player with a killer battery life (and a replaceable battery), or the Apple iPod Photo if you want the bonus of full-colour photo slide shows (keep in mind that this eats plenty more juice).

Need video? Check out the soon-to-be released and elegantly compact Creative Zen Vision (with its extended battery for up to 9 hours of video playback), or, for the ultimate high-end portable video experience, the extravagant Archos AV700 Mobile DVR.

There's also the Sony PSP. It's not exactly in the MP3/PVP category, but it plays music and video. Plus, it will most certainly keep you entertained -- just don't forget to bring along some games. Or get simple music playback, a compact form factor, and excellent battery life at a budget price with the Sony NW-E407.

Sony Network Walkman NW-HD5 Read review Sony's 20GB NW-HD5 and the iPod are both dead simple to use, but the HD5 is smaller, and its removable battery lasts much longer. Memory Capacity: 20GB Supported formats: MP3, WMA, WAV, ATRAC3 Battery type: Removeable lithium-ion Claimed battery life: 40 hours Dimensions (W x D x H): 57 x 15 x 89 mm Weight: 136 g Apple iPod (Colour) Read review Apple's iPod adds another feather to its cap with the inclusion of photo storage and display capabilities. Memory Capacity: 20GB, 60GB Supported formats: AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF Battery type: Built-in rechargable lithium-ion Claimed battery life: Up to 15 hours of music playback; up to 5 hours of slideshows with music Dimensions (W x D x H): 104 x 61 x 19 mm Weight: 181 g Creative Zen Vision Read review The Creative Zen Vision is a refreshing take on the portable video player. Memory Capacity: 30GB Supported formats: Audio: MP3, WAV, WMA, Video: DivX, MPEG-4, WMV, XviD Image: JPEG, TIFF Battery type: Removeable rechargabe lithium-ion Claimed battery life: Up to 4.5 hours of video playback Dimensions (W x D x H): 74.4 x 124.2 x 20.1 mm Weight: 239 g Archos AV700 Read review Laugh all you like, but you'll still want this PVP, which is the world's biggest in both screen size and hard drive capacity. Memory Capacity: 40GB, 100GB Supported formats: AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible, Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF Battery type: Removeable lithium-ion Claimed battery life: Up to 30 hours for music, up to 4 hours for video Dimensions (W x D x H): 107 x 209 x 19 mm Weight: 590 g Sony PSP Read review The PSP elevates portable gaming to the next level, but its multimedia functionality falls short of its full potential. Memory Capacity: 32MB internal, Up to 2GB with Memory Stick Pro Supported formats: UMD (Universal Media Disc) Claimed battery life: 4 - 6 hours, 3-4 for movie playback Dimensions (W x D x H): 170 x 74 x 23 mm Weight: 280 g Sony NW-E407 Read review If you want a beautiful-looking flash player with killer battery life, consider the Sony NW-E400 series. Memory Capacity: 1GB Supported formats: WMA, WAV, MP3, ATRAC3plus, ATRAC3 Battery type: Lithium ion Claimed battery life: 50 hours Dimensions (W x D x H): 84.9 x 28.8 x 13.9 mm Weight: 47 g