“Can anyone recommend a decent, small, flash-based media player that works well with Linux?”
I still have to read the linked article, but my knee-jerk reaction was, what’s wrong with the SanDisk flash-based media player that I use currently? With Linux?
Example: Model #MP12202C
I don’t integrate it into a bunch of things like GTKpod or Amarok, I just dump MP3s onto it and go. I’ll read the article now to see what “works well with Linux” means.
— Ethan 
I want a wizpy. Lame name, cool hardware.
I’ve been using a 128MB RCA Lyra. It takes SD/MMC cards in an expansion slot on the top rear of the player. That worked out well since I already had SD cards for my camera.
It’s a basic, no-frills MP3 player. The skip buttons double as seek buttons and the seek functions suck. The “On” button also works as “pause” but the pause lasts a scant few seconds and then powers down the device. If it cuts off mid-podcast, you might as well start over from the beginning as, noted prior, the seek functions sucks.
There are 5 “DSP” modes: Bass, Pop, Rock, Jazz and Flat and they’re all about as worthless as the presets in iTunes. I do prefer the Bass for some reason. The flat sounds “too” flat. It also “features” the generic playback options: repeat track, repeat all, random, random repeat all.
The buttons look like something off a toddlers toy but they’ve been surprisingly resilient. I figured the buttons would stop working in about six weeks, but it’s coming up on a year and they all still work even after dropping the damn thing numerous times.
The nice thing is that it takes a single AAA battery. Add a couple of rechargeable batteries and a 1-hour charger to the shopping cart and you won’t have to worry about batteries. The ads claim 20 hours of use, but I get around 9-10 – even with alkalines.
My biggest gripe is that it takes one of the USB mini “B” cables to transfer music. I’d much rather it have a retractable USB male plug so I could also use the device as a thumbdrive or rotate music out at work without looking like a dork carrying around a USB mini “B” cable.
The “nice” thing about this player is that it’s only about $30 (ignore the price on amazon) and you can pick it up at virtually any big retail store. Add to this a 2 GB SD card for $40 and you have a 2+GB MP3 player for under $80.
My 2¢
Hey, I just checked out the Turbolinux website and it looks like they’re going to be doing the US rollout of the wizpy later this year.
Are you using Debian yet? This might interest you. (and maybe help you make up your mind, if it’s not already made up).
Too bad, I actually liked Ubuntu when it started.
Yes, I switched to Debian Sid shortly after posting this comment on Christmas Eve. Santa brought Freedom this year.
— Mark