price is important, the small size is a plus, and it looks like it is pretty easy to use. I know compact media comes larger than smartmedia, but smartmedia is being phased out and compact media is from the same time period. I'd hate to end up with all sorts of devices using different memory cards, sort of like having all these blankety blank voltage adaptors all over the place. I like mp3's at this stage. I think they sound at least as good as cassettes and they're very convenient.