iRiver Mplayer (1GB, pink)

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Iriver Mplayer

With a space as bustling as the MP3 player market, one is bound to come across a smattering of kitschy devices. On first blush, you might be tempted to cast off Iriver's Mickey Mouse-shaped Mplayer as one of these tawdry examples of gadgetry--we certainly were. But the Disney-themed music player is surprisingly endearing in person: unique, tiny, and cute as a button. It sounds good, too, yet there's no screen, the design is not terribly durable, and at $69.99 for 1GB of built-in flash memory, the Mplayer is priced a bit higher than competitors from Creative and SanDisk.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: The Mplayer is downright adorable. CNET's in-house photographer squealed in a pitch only dogs can hear when she got her hands on it for the customary photo shoot. The device is about the size of a shooter marble, with two 0.6-inch spheres that make up Mickey's "ears." Each ear acts as a control. At the very basic level, the left ear adjusts volume, while the right toggles through tracks. There's a power button on the side of the head, as well as a reset hole. A tiny LED on the other side indicates whether the unit is on or off. A standard 3.5mm is bored into Mickey's head, along with a lanyard loop so you can sport him pendant-like with the included necklace-style earbuds. The bottom of the device features a mini USB port for syncing and charging. Iriver offers the Mplayer in an array of colors--pink, black, silver, or white--all in high-gloss plastic. None of these are decked out with a painted-on face, however; the shape alone designates the mousiness.