Panasonic SV-MP010, MP020 flash audio players

A couple of years ago, we might have found ourselves getting at least a little excited about Panasonic's two new flash audio players, the 1GB SV-MP010 and 2GB SV-MP020. But in 2006, there's very little to say about a lipstick-shaped (their words) player with a two-line display and fairly bare-bones functionality (MP3, WMA, DRM; no radio or line-in). Sure, the price is right;
$149 for a 2GB player is a pretty good deal, and Panny claims 75 hours on a single AA, which isn't too shabby. But just
$50 more will get you a nano with the same capacity, a full-color display and a shell you can carve your name into with any sharp (or blunt) object, so we don't exactly see a huge market for this. But somewhere out there, we assume, there are two or three Panny fanboys who have been lying in wait for this, and will snatch it up off of the shelf as soon as it arrives in stores this March. Er, yeah, let's scratch that. This is one for bargain-hunters only.