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We know Apple’s iPod and iPod Mini have the hard drive audioplayer market locked down like Hannibal Lecter on a cruise ship. Any temptation for Apple devotees to diverge from the iPod path will come from flash MP3 players, particularly USB 2.0 “thumb drive” players such as the Audio Flash. It sports one of the nicest color LCDs we’ve seen on a directly-connecting USB audio player. The menu is also logical, although you’re liable to make some mistakes with the somewhat difficult joystick used to navigate and control volume.
The Audio Flash plays MP3 and WAV files, but not AAC. We were impressed with the transparent audio quality that made familiar music sound pretty much how we expected it to. The five EQ settings (no custom setting) also helped to accentuate the sound. The included earbuds don’t sound bad at all, but they are uncomfortable, and their cord is far too short, rendering them almost useless.
Aside from the size—the Audio Flash is about as bulky as a tube of lipstick—another advantage is its FM tuner and FM/voice recorder. It can record radio or voice as WAV or MP3 in one of three quality settings and, it shows how much recording time remains. There is a built-in mic for voice or a mini-jack line-in for an external mic. Even when recording at low-quality MP3 from the built-in mic, the recordings were perfectly intelligible and noise-free enough for listening to reminders, to-do lists, and what have you. FM reception was as good as any other radio we tested it against. The unit runs an autotune and assigns the available stations to 20 presets.
Plug the Audio Flash into a USB port, and it shows up as disc volume on the desktop. Drag MP3s one at a time or in folders onto the Audio Flash. They play back alphabetically, so you can add the number you wish to the file name to create an order. You can also set the player to repeat track, repeat all, shuffle or shuffle repeat in the menu. We achieved nearly the full ten-hour advertised battery life off of one Energizer AAA battery.
–MARKKUS ROVITO
Audio Flash 128MB: 
Kanguru Solutions | www.kanguru.com | 888-526-4878 | $100
Pros: Nice sound quality, decent FM reception with recording, decent-sounding voice recording, highly visible color LCD, sensible menu design with many setting options.
Cons: Ear bud cord is puzzlingly short, joystick control is a little wonky, low capacity, no custom EQ, no Mac software support (drag-and-drop only).
Requires: OS 9 or OS X, USB port
macHOME recommends: USB 2.0, headphone upgrade
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