Thanks for the suggestions. Keep 'em coming! I was expecting that I'd get these types of players. They have too much! Seven colors? Psh! I only need two!

But seriously, it seems that you cannot get something like this for less than around $60. I really don't care about the firmware very much. As long as it plays music, that's fine.

I may consider this one. I'm a little worried about the dimensions, though. They don't show you how deep it is, and I must assume that to house all the bits and fit a AAA battery in there, it's probably not thumbdrive size.

My search continues!

*edit*
Why is it that every tiny MP3 player now comes with built-in radio tuners and recording capability? If these functions add a significant enough cost to the device, I wonder why there aren't more options without them.