More on the theme of good enough sound being good enough, if there are other important benefits along with it, in this case ultra-portability:

LIKE the herds of ever-smaller personal cassette players that roamed the earth in the 1980's, droves of tiny devices that play music in digital form are peeking out from pockets, purses, briefcases and backpacks everywhere you turn these days.

Although some will argue that their audio fidelity is not as high, digital music players do have one distinct advantage over the portable cassette, disc and minidisc players competing for the public's ear: you can leave the tapes, CD's or minidiscs at home and still listen to lots of different albums or mixes. With a digital player, you can carry anywhere from two hours to four weeks of continuous music with you, ready to pour through your headphones.

Even since I read an Instapundit piece from way back when saying that the science and technology coverage in the New York Times is outstandingly good, I've been going there almost every day to check out what miracles and wonders they've got this time. (This was a recent find there.) These little music boxes aren't especially miraculous or wondrous. Most of us probably know by now that they exist. But how do they work? Which one to get? The next paragraph ends thus:

Here is an outline of what you need to know and acquire to get your music moving.

I don't care for portable music myself. But if it's your bag, and you want that bag to be extremely light …