Good news for those whose hearts are bigger than their wallets: You can buy great gadgets and gizmos for friends and family this holiday season - without breaking the bank. Writer Marc Saltzman looks at tech stocking stuffers under $50:

THIS STONE DOESN'T SKIP

Available in black, blue, pink, green, red or white, the aptly named Creative Zen Stone ($39.99 at www.us.creative.com) is a teeny, 1-gigabyte MP3 player that can store roughly 250 songs. Connect this device to your PC via a USB cord (included), drag and drop your favorite MP3s or WMAs (Windows Media Audio), unplug and go. The bundled earbuds are also surprisingly good. While it doesn't have a built-in clamp to secure it to clothing, the Windows-based Zen Stone is $40 cheaper than the similar-sized iPod Shuffle and holds more songs.

TRAVEL COMPANION

Stop me if this sounds familiar: You're on vacation, taking many pictures, until you realize your digital camera's memory card is almost full. How are you going to remove them so you can take more photos? A product like the Kingston DataTraveler Reader ($23 at www.kingston.com) can help. It's a 1-gigabyte USB flash drive with an added bonus: an expansion slot to read SD, SDHC and MMC cards, so you can dump your pics onto a computer and then delete the images on the card to start again. A 2GB model is $35.

ROCK OR TALK

Keep your mobile phone tucked away in your jeans, backpack or purse, and enjoy your favorite music wirelessly with the Jabra BT620 ($29.99 at www.tigerdirect.com), a pair of behind-the-neck stereo Bluetooth headphones (with microphone). When a call comes in that you want to take, press a small button on the right earphone and the music will pause. The Jabra BT620 offers up to 16 hours of talk time or up to 14 hours of wireless music streaming. Note: Your phone must be Bluetooth stereo-compatible to hear music through these wireless headphones.

WIRELESS WIDGET

If you're still plugging your laptop into a router to access the Internet, it's time to un-tether yourself from the wall and kick back anywhere in the home, porch or back patio. The Linksys Wireless-G Router ($49.99 at www.linksys.com) gives your laptop wireless speeds up to 54 megabits per second (802.11g technology) so you can log on up to 150 feet away to download tunes, chat via webcam or play online games. While not the latest Wi-Fi speeds - that would be up to 300 Mbps with "802.11n" - this Linksys model is reliable and affordable.

SHOW THOSE PEARLY WHITES

Instant messaging via text is so 20th century. Instead, bring your online conversations to life with video and audio - with the Microsoft LifeCamNX-3000 for laptops ($59.95 at www.microsoft.com), a Windows-based webcam offering superior video quality (640 x 480 pixels, at 30 frames per second) and 1.3-megapixel still photos, along with other handy features such as a built-in microphone, one-touch "Call" button and automatic face-tracking software. If you're faking a sick call into work, however, just be aware you now have to look the part, too.

CHILL OUT

Keep your cold ones frosty while you're working (or playing) on your computer with the CoolIT USB Beverage Chiller ($24.99 at www.coolitsystems.com), a clever PC peripheral for thirsty mouse clickers. Simply plug this coldplate into the USB port of your laptop or desktop computer and it'll cool down to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, the perfect temperature for chilled drinks. This product draws its power from the computer, so no AC outlet is necessary. Mmmmmm, beeeeer.

AFFORDABLE ALL-IN-ONE

Computer users on a budget can now afford a multifunction printer/scanner/copier, such as the Lexmark X1270 Color Inkjet All-in-One ($49.99 at www.lexmark.com), which offers an impressive 4,800-by-1,200 dots-per-inch color resolution for printing photos, copy enlargements up to 400 percent and a 100-paper input tray. Black-and-white print speeds top 17 pages per minute or nine pages per minute for color prints.