I still want a AA battery powered mp3 player with a card slot!
AA battery players abandoned long ago, likely as too bulky a power source for current engineering advances.
AA batteries aren’t so bulky, especially when used one at a time. For a larger player, an easily swappable 18650 lithium ion battery would be good. It is less than twice the volume of a AA battery, but has over triple the power of a AA nimh rechargeable battery.
Can’t fit an AA in a Clip . . . . 
One could make a clip on player that takes a AA battery. Or if they are so obsessed about size, they could make one that uses a AAA battery. There is room for a model that uses a AA battery, and for a model that uses a AAA battery.
Yes, indeedy, many things can be done. ;) But whether consumers want those form factors is another matter, in this age of (Apple) micro-ism.
On of my friends just bought a Sandisk Clip+. His first comment was a complaint that the player is too small. I asked him a few days later how he is enjoying the player, and he said he can’t find it. Having a player that is somewhat larger is a good thing. Not only can the display be larger, but the player wouldn’t be as easy to misplace. I like the Clip Sport form factor much better than that of the Clip+ and Clip Zip, however i would prefer a player that is even slightly larger than the Clip Sport that is still a clip on one, which has an even larger display and even more battery life.
When the first portable transistor radio was made, they tried to make it fit in a shirt pocket, but still couldn’t get it to fit in a standard shirt pocket. Their solution was to cheat a bit, and make a shirt with an extra large pocket, and have the radio shown going into the shirt pocket. Imo the paradigm of portable music fitting into a shirt pocket is still relevant today, although since most are listening using earphones, so there should be room in the pocket for earphones as well. Having a player be as small as the Clip+ is , seems somewhat couterproductive, as it means skimping on battery life and display size.
Personally, I prefer the size of the Clip/Clip+/Clip Zip. Perfect to clip onto a belt loop or pocket, and for what it is, I don’t need a larger screen the only purpose for which would be is album art. I think SanDisk got it right–the Clip for small and the Fuze if you want bigger.
The Fuze is gone, and the Clip has been Jammed!
