Early MP3 Players

• The first MP3 players hit the market in 1998. The earliest player was the Saehan MPMan, but the most well-known of the early digital audio players was the Diamond Rio. The original Rio had 32 MB of internal memory, and could hold about 12 songs. Its release prompted a lawsuit by the RIAA, who claimed the player violated the Audio Home Recording Act. The lawsuit was dismissed, and helped pave the way for future MP3 players to enter the market.
  
  

Smallest MP3 Players

• While the iPod Nano is ultra-portable, it has nothing on theKube, a micro-sized MP3 player from Singapore-based OLLO Technologies. Weighing a nearly weightless 18 grams and measuring a minuscule 23 x 23 x 23 mm, it is one of smallest MP3 player commercially available, although it's not sold in American stores. Even tinier is the Micro Sport MP3 Player, a Japanese-made player that's about the size of an earbud but somehow manages to cram 4 GB of memory in its tiny body.
  
  

MP3 Players in Other Objects

• As the technology to create MP3 players has gotten cheaper and easier to produce over the years, they've started to show up in some unlikely places. In Japan there are stuffed animals that feature built-in MP3 players, and there are even special PEZ dispensers that feature tiny MP3 players. On the more practical side of things there are MP3 players built into sunglasses (perfect for working out) and MP3 players included with Swiss Army knives.
  
  

Waterproof Players

• While its hard to imagine that people would want to go swimming with earphones, that hasn't stopped some MP3 player manufacturers from designing waterproof devices. The MP3 wallet is a credit card-sized player that advertises itself as waterproof, and Ubanana's uCan goes one better by bragging that it can survive depths as great as 10 feet.
  
  

Homemade MP3 Players

• Some of the most out-there MP3 players are built into other devices. Tech-savvy music fans have put MP3 players inside just about anything, including an Altoids tin, NES controller and audio cassette cases.