Ensure that digital media is well-protected

It is rare to meet commuters, shoppers and holiday-goers alike, who do not carry electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, mp3 players, handheld PDAs, digital cameras, or laptops.

Yet, despite the risk of loss and theft, heightened by carrying these pricey gadgets around on a regular basis, it is important to check the insurance policy small-print to ensure that these items are sufficiently covered, says Confused.com.

Darren Black, home expert at Confused.com, says: "Although home insurance covers these electronic items under ‘items away from home', nothing can replace the vast assortment of personal information and memories stored on these gadgets; in fact, the theft or misplacement of an mp3 player or iPod, or indeed laptop storing digital media, could result in the loss of hundreds of pounds worth of music, and other downloads.

"With the development of new gadgets, such as the iPhone, condensing email, phone facilities and music into one small device, it is worth considering whether this actually puts consumers at an even greater risk when it comes to theft or loss?

"Most home insurance policies can replace the cost of losing an iPod or phone, for example, but very few can replace all of the content. Some policies are able to replace purchased content, such as music tracks, but not the contact lists, emails, photos or documents. In fact, even if the policy pledges to replace lost music, it is extremely unlikely the insurers would honour this without receipts of purchase. For this reason, it is important to always save those iTunes receipt emails to a hard disk. For additional safety, data should be saved to an external hard-drive which should, in turn, be stored safely away for extra security. Downloading legitimate anti-virus software is also a wise investment to make."