With a sleek silver design, this boombox will fit neatly on a shelf or countertop to bring music into any room in the house. It comes equipped with a top-loading CD player, as well as a cassette player/recorder, and digitally tuned AM/FM radio with single-button access to 20 station presets (10 AM and 10 FM).

One-touch recording allows you to make cassettes from your favorite CDs with consummate ease. Most of the controls are located on top, including forward and reverse scan and track skip, play, pause, and stop, in an unusual configuration around the LCD panel. The handy CD repeat button replays an individual track, the whole disc, or a sequence that you can program for those long afternoons. You'll also find tape/radio/CD and AM/FM selector switches, a nicely chubby volume knob, and a power indicator light.

The Memorex MP3131 includes an AC cord for home use, but the fold-down handle should be your first clue that it is also ready to go where you go. Pop in eight C batteries (and an optional three AA batteries to back up the radio station memory) and you're ready to rock from home to car to beach and back again.

The pair of angled, side-mounted speakers behind metal grills can easily fill a room or small area of the beach with your favorite sounds. The MP3131 is loud, with an acceptable amount of distortion considering it's a predominately plastic audio component. Don't expect spectacular highs or earthshaking lows and you'll most likely be pleased with the audio performance. For private listening, there's also a convenient rear-mounted headphone jack.

CD playback can withstand a good shaking, but shock the unit or turn it upside down and the music will stop, although recovery is quick and right from the point of interruption. The cassette might be the better choice for rough activity, with an intuitive six-button layout along the bottom front edge. For radioheads, the telescopic antenna out back adjusts for optimum tuning, and, for its own protection, locks down when not in use.

The MP3131 supplies a wealth of musical options with solid performance and true convenience, all for a modest investment. It's a painless way to put music in tight indoor spaces, or take it along as part of your active lifestyle.

Pros:

• Compact and extremely stylish
• CD, cassette, and AM/FM radio with digital tuning to suit varied needs of music lovers
• Plenty of volume for just about any situation

• Requires the usual plethora of batteries for true portability
• Single-well cassette deck means no tape-to-tape dubbing