I can also see this player being useful and popular with people who go to the gym, not having to worry about sweat and it getting banged around or dropped and with runners/joggers. A screen is not needed in these situations. You just want to plug in the earbuds and go. No muss; no fuss.
Obviously the sound quality is not going to be near what it is in the other players. 1.) There’s no way anyone is going to sell the same sound quality in a $20 unit as compared to a $100 + machine, and 2.) The absense of a EQ to ‘color’ or boost the sound to your liking is not there. But, these limitations are OK and are not going to be missed in certain situations and by some people. Sometimes all they are looking for is a basic, no-frills player for not much money. If it gets lost, stolen or broken, it’s not that big a loss.
The 1GB ‘SlotMusic’ cards with the pre-loaded music is actually not a bad deal. I already have a few of the albums available and some of them are 2-disc albums. These are priced the same as all of them, $14.99. You’re going to pay that for a new CD in Target or Walmart anyway. True, there is no CD, jewel case or liner notes with artist and track information, but this may be added as files on the cards in the future (the liner notes and album art, not the jewel case).
Obviously, 1GB is nore than is needed for 1 album (or even a double-set), so there is additional space for people to add some more of their own music files. But, if they will also read the SDHC cards, that’s huge! I can see having one of these for "hazardous-duty’ use where you don’t want to risk losing or damaging your nice e280 or Fuze (backpacking, hiking, running, the gym, etc.) Being able to instantly transfer a good portion of your music library to this device and take it with you at a moments notice is very convenient.
Now you just have to remember to carry a spare battery with you. 
