The Energon Pub

I haven't paid any attention to the mp3 market for years. I have a lowly, lowly 256 mb mp3 player from the stone age which probably needs serious replacing, but that's all I've got. Anyway, a new job later and I find myself in a position to be able to buy a new one and buy one I shall.

I've been looking around, but haven't done any heavy research on recent ones. Anyone know where to start me off on? What are the goods and bads of each brand? Who's the best game in town? What brands should I avoid?

I'm not looking to buy a 60 gig mega mp3 player. I only listen to a few albums at a time before they go into the "archives" so putting 60 gigs of music on one player will either have me a) skipping a whole bunch of songs that I've gotten bored of, or b) leaving 90% of the memory empty. I think at the most 2 gigs is enough.

I'm using it mostly for exercise, so the smaller the physical size, the better. And it should have a holder available so I don't sweat all over it when I strap it to my arm, chest, neck, leg, or spleen. Also, it should have a standard headphone jack because I also don't want to sweat in a specially fitted, expensive set of headphones (plus, when the headphones need replacing...).

Do they come with video? Then maybe 60 gigs is good, but honestly I don't see myself watching videos much when I'm running. The small screen would just look like an earthquake. But I'm still open to the option.

If you have a suggestion, pretend money is no object, and from there I'll widdle away at my options until I find the best bang for my buck.

I have an 80 gig iPod.

First off, I recommend going with the industry standard iPod.

That being said, 80 gigs is too much. Mine is video capable etc, but I've never had more than 20 gigs of anything on it.

An 8 gig iPod Nano should fit your needs. I thought I would end up watching a lot of video stuff on my iPod when I got it, but that's never really been the case (except in the bathroom at work, but whatever).

Just make sure it's got a good screen for dealing with menus. Some generic MP3 players have poopy lcd screens with idiotic menu options.

Yea an iPod Nano will be a really good option.
One very cool and good thing about it is that you can set the max volume so that you can't accidentally turn it too loud and blow your ears to kingdom come.

But you'll have to buy a extra slip to be able to attach it to your arm or stuff like that.

I'd have to agree with CP. I used to have a 30GB Gen 4 Ipod never managed to fill it.

I now have an 8GB touch which is still only half way full. I us it more as a PDA and mobile game console than anything else.

If you want to limit to something that only plays music an Ipod Nano should be more than enough. you could try an Ipod shuffle if you don't need a screen.

There's many brands out there to test, Creatve, Microsoft, Sandisk etc...

Most are cheaper than comparable Ipods, but may be less intuitive.

Start reading reviews, you'll find you get lots of information from them.
You can start with something like this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/125906/t ... based.html
Also like you I always look for MP3 players I can strap comfortably to my spleen. you never now when it may come in handy to have such a feature.

If you want video or seamless access to itunes (although they will be opening that up a bit, so I hear) an iPod is the way to go.

If you do want to scope out other options, I recommend http://www.anythingbutipod.com/. I just wanted a music player, and the site steered me towards a Sansa Clip. I have been very happy with it (although I lost the clippy bit.)

Consumer Reports is also a good resource. Check it out in your library or pony up about $6 to access it online for a month.

I have a creative Zen player it has 4GB of memory got over 600 songs, 20 videos and some 100 pictures and i still have about a gig and a half left its a cool little player i recomend it it also has a built in radio.

I found it easy to use well worth it