Flash-based MP3 players: This type of MP3 players (Flash-based), as the name suggests, have a built-in flash memory chip.

More features of Flash-based MP3 players:
•    They tend to be tiny, and hence are ultra-portable.
•    They have no moving parts.
•    A user can do all sports activities - without worrying about the music skipping a beat.
•    The downside is their high cost per megabyte. These range from 32MB to 2GB.

Despite their some shortcomings, Flash based MP3 players retain their popularity. A flash based player, unlike the hard drive based MP3 player only provides up to 4 gigabytes of memory (on each card), but these are interchangeable, so you can still collect/compile music, videos and photos with it. You can opt to change the card as often as you wish, just like changing a CD on your home stereo.

Keep in mind the fact that you require special, additional and compatible equipment like a flash reader for your comp for you to be able to download the digital files & then transfer the card to your player. The most popular models in this category tend to be the ones from the iRiver iFP series, the Creative Muvo line, and more recently, the Apple iPod Shuffle.