Is there anything like an ipod dock for USB sticks?

Yup, this will do it. Yours for £250, squire (plus the cost of a system to plug it into)...

Hmm, bit steep though. May as well go iPod & dock at that price. Anything cheaper out there?

Guess that's a no then. If they can do it in £60 car stereos I can't see why it's so hard to add to mini hi-fis etc.

Why limit your music to what's on a single stick? Assuming you're authoring your USB collections from your own computer, you could wirelessly stream them (plus Spotify, internet radio etc) to a speaker system like a SONOS PLAY:3 (£250) - dead simple to set up and gives you the option to build a multi-room system should you wish to at a later date....

[Disclosure - my company is a SONOS distributor, but as you can see from that WHF review (and many others), SONOS is a highly rated option]

Hi Clare,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm sure this device is very good, and I do like to dip into internet radio sometimes but this isn't exactly what we are looking for. 

Looks like to play your favourite albums you'd need a local device like a PC or NAS box turned on to stream them from, or you'd have to use something like Spotify (which has limited plays per song and is ad-ridden unless you pay a subscription).

We just want to find a fairly cheap small system with a USB port, a screen (so you can navigate the folders/files) and speakers. A CD player and radio would be nice to have but not essential. My guess is £150 is about the maximum price we'd buy for.

Well here is a Sony micro system that appears to do all that:

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hmi-ipod-hi-fi/cmt-mx550i

Worth shopping around for - some good deals; you may not have to stretch your budget much:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003QP49IA/ref=asc_df_B003QP49IA8755513?smid=...

Well within your budget:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-SC-AKX10EB-K-250W-System-Playback/dp/B...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designer-Habitat-Nano-3-0-Flashdrives/dp/B005ERN...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/JUSTOP-Media-Player-Playback-Surround/dp/B006S6F...

(The last 2 products connect to your TV)

re: Sony CMT-MX550i

That does seem to do it, and it recognises folder names, which is essential but not all players with USB do that.
Can only cope with 999 mp3s on a stick, but that's not a big problem given how cheap USB sticks are.
Looks like they have been £20 cheaper on Amazon than they are now, so might get them for that again there.

Thanks Clare, definitely one to consider.

Re: Panasonic SC-AKX10EB-K

Bigboss, do you know if this picks up and displays folder names from the USB stick? Some can only read the ID3 tags in the MP3 files and just give the folders some kind of number.

Feel like I'm banging on about this now but it makes a big difference to the usability.

I don't know if it reads folder names as well. Reading the reviews, one reviewer says USB reads like a CD. Another is able to play his entire iTunes library on 16GB USB stick, so there are no limitations there.

According to manufacturer's description:

You can playback your favorite music (MP3 data) on any Digital Audio Player by simply connecting the main unit to the Digital Audio Player with a USB cable. With Rotary Track Selector, it is easy to find your favourite song from hundreds of fields. Just turn the selector untill you reach the song you want. After select the song, the SC-AKX10 automatically starts playback.

Ok, just confirmed that the answer is yes, it can display folder names. From the manual:

http://tda.panasonic-europe-service.com/docs/2z50029012z3z2e2aaz656ez706...