If you need flac, absolutely NO radio, and wired headphones… I’d look at old devices that support flashing the Rockbox custom firmware. You can probably find something used with over 128GB storage for under your price point.

Rockbox supports almost any audio type you can imagine (flac, mp3, wma, chiptune formats like spc and nsf, tracker formats like xm and it, anything). It beats out the old click wheel iPod OS in terms of functionality. Playlists, construct a temp playlist while listening to other music, shuffle the playlist, shuffle the queue, shuffle a subsection, play all songs, play albums, play all by an artist, play all in a genre tag, etc. Everything you could expect and probably more.

Ever wanted to play Doom on crappy mp3 player controls? How about a janky proof of concept GameBoy emulator?

Rockbox is deeply customizable, but that also includes themes that mimic the default old school iPod OS or other old MP3 players if you want simplicity. It connects to a computer as a standard flash drive. No software needed for sync, no stupid MTP protocol making file transfers take stupidly long.

I think that it does support a few devices with FM radio, so you’d have to check that. The Sansa Clip Plus suggestion someone else made is one of the supported devices with FM radio. There’s an incredibly slight chance it supports some device with Bluetooth, but take a look at the project site and tell me if you really think it does. I’d be shocked.

Also, probably outisde of your price range, but old iPod Classics don’t have FM hardware, and up to 6th gen support flashing Rockbox as the OS. Apparently storage size limit is right at 128GB though, from a quick search. So you’d have less after the OS install. Would also probably have more available replacement parts like batteries and expanded storage mods. Either way you are probably looking at something used.

I have a hard time imagining there also isn’t an existing small market for mp3 players for secure facilities or for prisons that would have devices with the limitations you’re looking for. Probably not nice prices or feature sets though.

Just buy a Walkman and enjoy your life

OP most likely works in a SCIF - where such restrictions are pretty common.

TL;DR OP is a fed or fed contractor

AGPTEK U3 USB Stick Mp3 Player, 40GB Music Player Supports Replaceable AAA Battery, Recording, FM Radio, Expandable Up to 128GB

https://a.co/d/bLVGWjx

iPod 5th gen (aka Video), flash modded and with Rockbox.

If going without Rockbox, Rhythmbox on Linux can upload mp3-s to the stock iPod but (IIRC) not flacs.

Bit late as a reply, but I remembered your post when I came across this fully open source MP3 player. It does not even appear to have BT, so might be an option.

As that might be relevant, I came across it from this youtube video here (got it in my feed, haven’t watched it yet).

Edit: nevermind, has wifi and bt after all. Not surprising as it’s ESP32 based, so it’s literally just there.

If this is a normal restriction at your office, would other people who work in that environment have solutions?

Go to Ali Express, and filter through the “mp3” results. They will cost less than $10, be made of the cheapest material possible but meet your requirements. Otherwise you are thrift store shopping

Think you would likely have to scour garage sales and used buy/sell sites for one of those ancient portable mp3 player devices. I remember the old iRiver devices did support FLAC natively but that was before 128GB storage existed so no idea how something like that would behave when you stick in a 128+ GB SD card into it.

The other tricky part is that something that old/used may have a worn out battery so any device with a built-in battery may not stay on for very long.

The other comment makes a good point, starting out you should focus on anything that https://www.rockbox.org/ supports since that’ll give you FLAC support. (besides the Archos, apparently it is impossible to play FLAC on those https://www.rockbox.org/wiki/WhyRockbox.html).

I specifically remember getting Linux to load music on my iPod Nano during my Ubuntu phase. There’s got to be a way to do that still, but i understand the frustration.

Maybe a generic player like those old generic USB MP3 Players? Nothing i found comes with 128GBs of space unless it also has Bluetooth or some wireless functionality.

If all else fails just get an old Android phone and don’t use the wireless features if you find one with an audio jack.

Preferably that takes a large SD card, otherwise has at least 128gb of storage. I want to be copying files directly on to it in a file browser and for them to play in the right order

I mean, if you want all those features, your best bet is a budget Android smartphone, then just physically sever the wireless antennas. If you’re in the US, get one of those “locked” phones, they’ll be cheaper and you won’t be needing to make calls anyways (don’t get the verizon ones, they require activation). A Moto G Play is like less than $50 (USD).

Just sever the antennas and transfer the VLC.apk from a computer, and you have a nice MP3 player.

I’d suggest looking at small embedded computers and hats for them to fit your objective.

Since you’re familiar with Linux, I’m thinking an Arduino might work out. There’s probably a better way but I’m imagining you configuring it to work like a USB drive and dropping in playlist files along with your music and using the hat to select your preferred playlist like a homemade iPod.

You’ll want to avoid the generic junk mp3 players online since there’s no way to be certain it’s free of radio chips before detailed inspections. Since that stuff is typically pumped out with whatever junk was available that day.

Look on fiio.com. At least in the past they made some no-wireless ones. 128gb wasn’t really a thing in the mp3-only era though. Cowon D2 is a great player but uses SDHC (32gb max) rather than SDXC. I don’t remember if it has FM.

Follow up question, why do you need music?