IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS, I've become completely dependent on my MP3 library. No, I didn't stop buying CDs, but I did rip my CD audio library to high-bit rate MP3s. Since then, I haven't touched my jewel case-filled CD shelves, and I continually wonder how I put up with having to physically change discs in my three-disc CD player. There's just something about having almost 4,000 songs just a couple of clicks away that's intoxicating, even addictive.

Now that I have an entire library of CDs available in MP3 format, I want to take some of them out with me when I go for a run or to the gym, when I know I'm going to end up bored in a waiting room somewhere, or even when I want to get away from my computer for a while and go out a walk through the park or along the beach.

With the desire for a portable MP3 player fresh in my mind, I noticed Samsung's Yepp YP-90S, and I was smitten. Maybe it was the MP3 player's smooth curves, LCD display, rocker switch, or the fact it was small enough to almost completely hide in my hand. Whatever it was, it drew me in, and I've been playing with the YP-90S for more than a month now.

Did this pint-sized MP3 player deliver me to portable audio Nirvana, replacing my battered MiniDisc player along the way, or does an annoying personality lurk behind the Yepp's sexy curves? Read on to find out.