We've got to hand it to Panasonic for creating tiny gadgets with high techno-glitz factor. The e-wear SV-SD80 takes the prized crown for being the world's smallest digital-audio player. This title is accompanied by a wallet-damaging price of $330.

Still, the wearable charm, about the size of a fat CompactFlash card (1-11/16 inches by 1-3/4 inches by 11/16 inch), is the first flash-based player to be lionized by TechTV Labs in awhile. We actually could hide the silver-and-blue trinket in our hands. Even inside its water-resistant protective case, which is the way most users will carry it, the SV-SD80 is smaller than most available players. And it sounds great.

Weighing less than an ounce, the SV-SD80 uses postage stamp-sized secure digital (SD) removable media and ships with a 64MB card, meaning you can store about an hour of near-CD quality MP3 audio. That's not much, especially considering the player costs about $130 more than the 64MB Creative Nomad II MG. However, users may encode their music into WMA or AAC formats to effectively double the storage space without sacrificing audio quality.

The SV-SD80 runs on an equally pint-sized Ni-MH rechargeable battery, which will last a rated 18 hours. You can increase the life of the battery by sticking it inside its neat plastic case, which has room for an extra AAA battery. Panasonic claims the combination of the two batteries will yield 50 hours of life. Not bad.

The interface is tiny, too

The SV-SD80 shines when it comes to its user interface and controls. Prominent play/stop and skip/scan buttons line the bottom of its jewel-like face. The volume control lies just beneath. Inside the protective case, these buttons are easily manipulated by pressing the external rubberized versions.

A switch on the SV-SD80's side toggles the unit between Normal, Mode, and Hold functions. When switched to Mode, the skip and volume buttons control playlist management, four flavors of equalizer presets (Normal, Bass 1, Bass 2, and Train), and repeat and random functions. Yes, the idea of storing playlists on a 64MB card puzzles us. If you're wondering, Train mode mutes higher audio frequencies so you can more easily hear what's going on in the external world.

The tiny blue background display has two lines of 10 characters each and features scrolling track information, time elapsed, and battery life. Unfortunately, it's not backlit.

In addition to the protective case, the SV-SD80 ships with decent earbuds, an extension cord, a neck lanyard, and a stretchy armband. The term e-wear implies that you'll be wearing the player around your neck or on your arm so everybody can see your shining techno gem. The package also includes a USB SD card reader/writer, a tiny recharger cradle, and a copy of RealJukebox, which has been tweaked with Panasonic drivers and branding.

SD Audio -- reminds us of Sony's OpenMG

Although the reader/writer shows up as a removable drive and you can drag and drop files onto an SD card, you won't be able to play them on your SV-SD80. This is because all audio files, including AAC, WMA, and MP3, must be converted into SD Audio. This process, which basically places a protective wrapper over existing files, can only be accomplished using the RealJukebox software. While it doesn't add much transfer time to AAC or MP3 files, WMA files can take three or four times longer.

In summary, the SV-SD80's elite pricing can be overlooked because of its size, good sound quality, triple decoders, excellent battery life, and myriad accessories. And compared to its predecessor, the $430 SV-SD75, the SV-SD80 is a bargain.

Summary: The world's smallest digital audio player. It's cool, expensive, and again it's tiny.

Pros: Small size; long battery life; weather-resistant case.

Cons: Expensive; ships with only 64MB; long transfer time for WMA files.

Company: Panasonic
Price: $330
Available: Now
Category: Digital audio
Software platform: Windows
Specs: 1-11/16 inches by 1-3/4 inches by 11/16 inch; WMA, MP3, AAC decoders.