I’m a gadget lover who balks a bit at the latest in tiny technology — why are those little things so darn expensive? — but this MP3 player has won my frugal heart. SanDisk’s cool little MP3 player, the Sansa Fuze , one-ups the practically microscopic iPod Nano in a few big ways: It has a built-in digital FM radio; it plays all sorts of audio formats, not just those from iTunes; and it costs less than Apple’s ubiquitous device. Its 1.9-inch color screen is remarkably clear, and the eight-gigabyte model shown here holds up to 2,000 songs and has a battery that will let you play music for an entire day or video for five hours. Need to store even more? Additional memory cards are sold separately.

8GB model, $129.99 (2GB models are about $80, and 4GB ones are $100) at RadioShack .

Subscribe to blog via RSS