Weeks ago my friend Wayne and I went out thrifting and he snagged a Creative ZEN 30 gig mp3 player for $3.99 out of the toy section. After he procured some accessories for it so that it could be charged, he gave it to me in hopes I could make it work, since he couldn't seem to get it to power on even after charging for hours. And I did, just did a software update and it seems to be able to hold a charge now. While there's a huge suite of applications for arranging music on this, it's recognised as an MTP (USB memory) device in Windows so no tools are actually necessary (though the media converter to transcode videos down to the 320x240 screen size is a good idea). It plays videos, displays pictures and, surprise, plays music. The controls take a bit of getting used to but it's functional. This model was discontinued a few years ago in favor of the 60gb version as well as several newer, prettier versions, but even refurbished the Vision:M still retails for over $100 so it was a great find for $4. [update: Went out driving and took this as my music source. Not only did it have a full charge when I started, it's still showing full after about an hour of use. And here I've already ordered a new battery I might not actually need... :-D correction: It gets to 50% charge after hours of play then it shuts off saying Battery Low. So I did need the replacement afterall.]

A girl playing with bobbins and toys from the public domain image book, "What Shall We Do?" "Five Hundred Games and Pastimes" by Dorothy Canfield published in 1907 by Frederick A Stokes Company of New York.