Top 5 MP3 players for less than $50

Fifty dollars can buy you more MP3 player than you think.

(Credit: CNET)

Just eight years ago, a basic MP3 player could easily set you back $300 or more. These days, you can nab a decent player for less than $50--and I mean a legitimately decent MP3 player.

To make my point, I've rounded up my top five MP3 players for $50 or less. These aren't your bargain-basement screenless Shuffle-style players, either. With one exception, all the featured players include screens, FM radio, and voice recording. Each player also includes a little something extra, ranging from a workout tracker to a color screen.

The advent of genuinely useful, cheap, and small MP3 players also opens up the possibility of owning several players for different purposes. There's no reason to risk taking your iPhone on the treadmill when a $40 clip-on player will do the trick. Need some music in the kitchen? Just grab a cheap MP3 player with a built-in speaker.

What are you waiting for? Check out our favorite MP3 players for less than $50.

[zmnatz]

You can get a 2GB Sansa clip for $20 at office depot until the EOB saturday. Or just find the ad somewhere and price match it somewhere else. I got one of these on sunday

[4dthinker]

The Sansa Clip 4gb model is usually $49, and the 8gb version often can be found for that same price. Still under $50, and a far better choice than anything else on your list for those who have large music collections. With memory prices continuing to drop, your $50 list may soon be full of 3" touchscreen players. ;)

4D

[jwant_fp]

It's products like these that make me wonder how apple thinks they can get away with their pricing.

[BigGuns149]

Until recently it was really quite easy. Before iTunes tracks were unprotected the only players that could easily use said tracks were iPods so anyone who had any desire to buy music off iTunes didn't have much choice unless they knew how to remove the copy protection.

[pburkeiii]

these types of players were out long before the ipod, i do not know why they are described as shuffle "clones" they do look in a way like older shuffles, but this is no reason to give Apple the credit for the product