I remember that awkward period after we outgrew floppies but before USB flash storage became mainstream when CD-RW and CD+RW (Yes there was a difference and it mattered!) being peddled as the next portable storage format. My first USB stick was 128 megabytes and cost around $60. I actually still have it, but it may no longer work. I believe I bought it in around 2003 or 2004. I remember them steadily decreasing in price, or at least price per unit storage, very quickly over the ensuing years, to the point where they were giving away multi-gig sticks by around 2009 or 2010.
Was it shaped like a boom box? Because i had that, right between minidiscs and “real” mp3 players.
I don’t think so. I think it looked like a normal rectangle flash drive, but with some buttons on one side.
Oh! It was the creative nomad muvo, the model without the screen. Looking online it was actually two pieces- the flash drive part slid onto the audio part? Man, it’s been a while.