My first MP3 player was a PDA (personal digital assistant). It was the HP iPaq 4350 which replaced my earlier Palm device.
I waited for its 2004 release eagerly.
It allowed me to play Windows Media Player on the go. It had a memory card slot that allowed a decent music library.
I actually zeroed in on it because it had a real keyboard and I expected to be writing/editing Word document on it (which never happened).
But something unexpected happened: I fell in love with its ability to read books and articles in Microsoft Reader format. And so I'd sit on my hour-long train commute, with the MP3 cranking and a convenient library of dozens of books and interesting articles to read every day. (I hadn't expect that reading on these screens would be so pleasant -- but MS Reader gives you the ability to take notes, highlight, bookmark AND read in large clear text.)
This HP IPAQ product never took off. I may have the only one in working condition. But I (for one) am still hooked on combining MP3 Player and Ebook capability.
It's all about the music, man.
I'm not sure how well this qualifies, but my first true MP3 capable device (defined as being able to download music in compressed form and playback on a portable) was one of Sony's NetMD MiniDisc (MZ-500 if I remember correctly) players. "Technically" the player only supported ATRAC digital files on MD, but the software would covert MP3 and WMA on the fly to ATRAC, so it was just as seamless as any MP3 player. Prior to that, I got away from carrying CDs around years ago by switching to MiniDisc. I have two portables (the NetMD and a really old one, but I don't consider the older one to be a MP3 player since it couldn't sync with a PC), a home deck, and a car deck (still). However, I've pretty much given up on the format and use my Sansa C-150 for everything now.
An 
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