Sharp MP-B300/B200 music players are kind of dull

It seems that if you want to compete with the big boys in the MP3 player market, you need to come out with rather snazzy designs, complete with an attractive glossy finish. Sharp has not done that with their latest offerings, the MP-B300 and B200. Sure, they’ve got some chrome accents going on and the metallic red finish may win a few people over, but I’m completely turned off by the fugly buttons on the front and the less than awe-inspiring monochrome display above. There’s not much internal memory (512MB for the B200, 1GB for the B300), but these players do seem to sport miniSD slots for some expansion action. Where they do have the iPod beat, however, is the “added” feature of an integrated FM tuner.