5. Samsung YP-T7JZ: Small but Flexible

If you're looking for the smallest possible player, the T7JZ is probably what you want: it's very light and tiny, yet still handles fairly well, and the build quality is excellent. Despite its small size, it has a display that's sharp and color-true. While it's ideal for navigating among your songs and configuring the player, unfortunately, it's far too small for viewing photos. The JZ scores high for features, though, since it includes an FM tuner and ability to record to MP3 files.

In our listening test, the sound quality was good, with full bass - sometimes even at the expense of the highs. For once, the earphones included in the box are very satisfactory, which means you won't have to shell out for another set. The battery life is similar to that of the other products tested, which is a good point for such a small player. File transfer is via Windows Media Player, or directly in Windows Explorer.

By the way, if you're strapped for cash, you might want to look at YP-T7JX (which is what we actually tested), which is the JZ with only 512 MB of memory.

Characteristics

Storage medium: Flash memory, 1 GB Display: 96 x 96 pixels File transfer: USB 2.0 Dimensions: 1.5" x 2.4" x 0.6" (37 X 62 X 14) mm, weight 1.4 oz. (40 g) Formats: MP3, WMA DRM (Microsoft Plays For Sure), OGG, JPEG, TXT FM Tuner: Yes Battery life: 12 hrs.