Archos Clipper: Apocalypse-ready MP3 player

Mobile phones and netbooks may be nibbling away at the market for portable media players, but there will always be a demand for dirt-cheap, bare-bones MP3 players. Our grandchildren could be living in a post-apocalyptic waterworld or an off-planet Martian colony, but the cheap MP3 player will endure like some kind of technological cockroach.

It seems fitting then that the latest budget MP3 player from Archos bears a resemblance to our favourite end-times-surviving insect. The Archos Clipper is your basic clip-on MP3 player with 2GB of storage, priced at around £18. There's no screen, no frills, no fancy colours -- nothing to save you from a robot uprising or nuclear annihilation.

In all fairness to Archos, the company has been on the sidelines of the MP3 player game for a few years now, focusing its efforts on the emerging netbook and tablet PC markets. Unlike the Clipper, the company's upcoming Archos 9 media tablet is one of the more drool-inspiring products we've seen all year. You've got to put your money where your priorities are.