The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday published CNET reviews of Windows Media Player 11, MTV's new Urge music service and iRiver's Clix player, noting: "If you're looking for the Windows Media answer to iTunes and the iPod, this is it." All three received ratings of 8.0 or higher out of 10, which equates to "Excellent."

Of Windows Media Player 11, which is still in Beta, the reviewer stated that it's "a must-have upgrade. It's Microsoft's best jukebox to date, thanks to a thoughtful redesign, impressive performance and useful new features. It's much simpler, more visual and more like iTunes." It rated 8.0 out of 10.

Urge also received 8.0 out of 10. The review said, in part: "Despite a few glitches, MTV Urge is among the best subscription music services. It really shines with its programmed content, which includes hundreds of playlists and more than 100 radio stations." The US$9.99 All Access subscription doesn't allow transferring music to portable devices, but the $14.99 level does. Individual songs are also available for $0.99 each.

The Clix MP3 player, which sells for $200 and offers 2GB of storage, was rated 8.7 out of 10. The reviewer noted: "The Clix is a superbly designed MP3 player that's easy to use and packed with pretty much every feature: FM tuner, video playback, Flash games, voice recorder and other nice extras. We hesitate to call anything perfect, but iRiver comes close with the Clix."