As Cheap as it Gets. A $10 MP3 Player.

Inevitably the price of digital devices comes down. Sort of the inverse of Moore's Law which predicts the doubling of transistors per fixed area every 2 years. Once a capability is met it's nature is to get cheaper as it doesn't require any greater processing power. A perfect example is this $10 player you can probably find on an end cap at your local Target. With 1gb capacity for around 250 songs and two color choices, this little player is almost identical to the latest iPod Shuffle. You get 4gb of capacity for $80 from Apple. You could buy 8 of these players for the same price. Four of them for 4gb of total space would be half the price Apple charges, so essentially this player is half the price. This player works fine with Windows Media Player 11 or you can simply drag and drop your music files onto it. It also works on a Mac, although I don't have a Mac to verify that with. Pop the end off and plug it directly into a USB port. Looks just like USB a removable storage device to Windows. Not much bigger than an AAA battery. No clip to pin it to your shirt, and the earbuds use a 2.5mm plug meaning standard headphones won't work. Yet $10 will get you a portable media player, and it'll work fine. There's a reset hole next to a place to connect a lanyard or wrist strap. The little toggle switch on the side is your sole control. Press in to pause or initiate play. Rock forward or back to advance track or go back one song. Hold the toggle forward or back to change volume up or down. The slide switch on the end turns it on and off.

That's it. It played any MP3 files I copied to it. The included headphones are your only option but they sound as good as any you'll get with an iPod.

4D