I want standalone MP3 players with removable media and simple controls (no touch display) to make a comeback. You could make your crush a "mix tape" with those old 32MB SD cards everyone has lying around from the good old days when everything was a standalone device. Someone could manufacture little stickers to put on the SD cards so you could customize each one. And little cases to carry them around in. Bands could release albums on them. And your modern car will probably be able to play them too.
SanDisk still makes the Sansa Clip which satisfies your requirements and takes microSD cards. I have a previous generation of the same, it's a very nice device that does (mostly) one thing and does it well.
And of course, as far as bands releasing albums on SD cards with artwork... They tried that with something called MQS SD. Needless to say, it didn't go so well.
Very close to what I'm looking for. I was thinking pretty hard about it a few months ago, and I did considered that exact one. Ideally, I'd like no screen (small LCD at most); push buttons (SanDisk looks like touch, but the description doesn't clarify); SD card; standard replaceable battery (this is the hardest feature to find); ogg and flac support.
