Okay, I just had my brain unfreeze on me. The empeg WAS my first MP3 player, though not long after that I had the Archos Jukebox recorder (in, I think, 2001). I can't remember what model it was.

Then, because my wife and I were going to Europe for a month in 2004 and wouldn't have a laptop with us, I bought the Archos AV340 and the additional CF card reader in order to store the photos we took onto it. Of course, we ended up taking more pictures in a day than could even fit on those CF cards, so I would end up sitting in the middle of St Paul's cathedral copying files onto my Archos to free up space. I can't believe that was 6 years ago, and now your average P&S camera can take a card big enough to last most people a week-long trip without dumping their card.


ANYway, I finally remembered what I used for music before the empeg and my Archos. I had a Sony Minidisc player! I think I got it before MP3 players came out, and when they did it didn't make much sense to trade up for one, because the players were about the same size, held the same amount of music as a Minidisc, and I could just carry multiple discs around with me if I wanted to listen to something else.