A method of limiting the play back of multimedia content in a memory of a portable media player includes providing a non-rechargeable battery as a power source for the portable media player, and enclosing the battery within a housing such that the battery cannot be removed without damaging the portable media player. The memory of the media player may be provided with multimedia content, or a communication interface may be provided to receive, or to download into the memory, multimedia content, for example at a point of sale. The method may further include limiting the writing of multimedia content into the memory only once, or not more than a predetermined number of times. The method may include downloading a multimedia file into the memory by engaging the communication interface with a communication interface of a file downloading station.