Yep, there was a lot to like about my CompactFlash MP3 player back in the day - solid state, ran on one AA battery (lithium for snowboarding in winter), backlit

Yep, there was a lot to like about my CompactFlash MP3 player back in the day - solid state, ran on one AA battery (lithium for snowboarding in winter), backlit white on blue LCD, physical momentary switch for navigation on the side (no touch screen). Scarcely bigger than a zippo lighter. I was honestly more excited about that thing than I ever was about a walkman or discman, maybe because I was old enough to have actually used a walkman and discman. The iPod was awesome, but at same time first gen was a mechanical drive and the whole iTunes thing seemed a step backwards to someone using MediaMonkey to manage a large MP3 library.