Tiny MP3 players

Flash-based MP3 players are taking over the marketplace. Unlike their hard-drive-based counterparts, flash MP3 players have no moving parts, affording them entirely skip-free playback and, in most cases, a long battery life. Also, flash chips are tiny, meaning the players that use them can be small to the point of ridiculousness. Luckily, most manufacturers realize that there is such a thing as too small, so we had no trouble finding a collection of manageable MP3 players that won't take up valuable space in a briefcase, a backpack, a purse, or a pocket. And although each measures less than 2 cubic inches, all of them offer at least 2GB of memory, which is enough to hold about 500 songs or 32 hours' worth of music.

The winner in terms of tininess? The Apple iPod Shuffle, at a startlingly scarce 0.39-inch. Next billing goes to the Sony W-Series Walkman, which incorporates an MP3 player into two 0.61-inch earphone modules. And then there's the Creative Zen Stone Plus at 1.1 cubic inch. At 1.4 cubic inches a piece, you have the plug-and-play Sony B-Series Walkman and the ultrathin iPod Nano, which offers an impressive 11.4GB per inch for the 16GB model. Finally, there's the sporty Sansa Clip at 1.5 cubic inches.