The station master; Perfect curves... but can this radio cope with the presenter's internet demands?(Features)

Byline: Zoe SALMON

I'm one of those people who has to put something on to fill the flat with background noise the minute I get home, and I always make straight for the radio. On my old DAB radio, I'd pretty much listened to everything ten times over, so testing the new Pure Contour - with the whole world of internet radio stations available to me - was just fantastic.

There are so many stations on o[bar]er that I rarely listen to the same one twice. I came across a Russian one that plays Beatles songs all day and another that just plays Christmas music, 365 days a year - I love that. If you're really into something, you can be assured there'll be a station for you out there.

I really warmed to the Contour's design - the shape is nice and distinctive, and Pure hasn't cluttered up the smoothness of it too much. The iPod dock slides out from the base, which I thought was a nice touch. The sound is very clear as well - the bass is nice and strong, and you don't need to turn it up very high before it gets loud. It never struggled for reception, and coped well with different types of music.

You select internet radio through something called the Lounge, which you need to sign up to online (it's free). It works in a similar way to iTunes, and you can access it on the radio or on your PC.

As well as being a useful place to search for and sort radio stations, the Lounge is also where you can subscribe to 'FlowSongs'. This costs [pounds sterling]2.99 a year, but allows you to buy a song at the touch of a button if you hear it on the radio. The track is downloaded to the device (for a fee - usually 79p to [pounds sterling]1.29), and you can then transfer it to an MP3 player, or just play it back.

The other feature I like is that the Contour can access BBC iPlayer radio content. It's good not to have to use your laptop to catch up on old shows.

What isn't so good is that there are so many stations to scroll through, it can take ages to navigate to them on the device. That's the downside of a small screen - you can't type something in like you could on a computer or phone. Fortunately, you can create folders in which to save your favourite stations.

In general, using the Contour is easy - there are touch-sensitive controls beside the LCD display, and it's basically foolproof. The menus make sense, and it comes with a simple remote. If I wanted to buy someone a radio, I'd get one of these.

In the meantime, I've been in talks about doing some work on radio myself - so if you do buy a Contour you could find me on the [pounds sterling]200,

, pure.com Catch Zoe on 'The Love Bus', channel5.com/demand5

Remove your iPod or iPhone and the retractable dock will slide back to fi t into the Contour's curvy body - a nice design touch.

Thanks to Wi-Fi you can listen to internet radio or music streamed from your computer; video out means you can watch iPhone footage on your TV.

Behind the cloth grille are two 3.5in speakers that push out 36W of sound - ample for most rooms.