Digital Home Thoughts: Five 1 GB Flash MP3 Players Reviewed at DenGuru

"Flash MP3 players are extremely light, and small enough to slip discreetly into a pocket, yet can hold enough music for several hours of listening. The absence of moving parts makes Flash storage totally shock-proof, so it's ideal for exercise buffs and users who are constantly on the go. Players with storage capacities of up to 2 GB can compete with hard-disk players in terms of storage capacity to price ratio. But the maximum capacity of Flash memory players remains much smaller than that of hard-disk models, currently topping out at 4 GB. For this roundup, we limited the contenders further, to a capacity of 1 GB. This gives you a player with ample capacity for commuting back and forth to work, while keeping the price affordable. There is not much that's really new among the products that we tested - product lines are currently in a renewal phase. Still, now is a good time to get a deal on products that have been around for awhile and whose prices have dropped as a result."



DenGuru takes a brief look at 5 different flash-based 1GB MP3 players. They give the Creative Zen Nano Plus and the Sony Bean the prize for budget players (I recommend the AAA-taking Zen over the Sony). The Samsung YP-T7JZ (nice name guys) falls right in the middle, price-wise and is the smallest (though not thinnest) player they review. For those looking to spend a little more money for build quality, the iPod Nano and iRiver U10 are what you're looking for. Personally, I find 1GB way too small for my uses, but I can definitely see how they might be appealing to some, especially people who like to buy singles instead of entire albums, and people who work out (and don't mind listening to the same thing or swapping songs regularly). If you're in the market for an inexpensive flash player, give the article a read.