So what's a good one that isn't made by a certain manufacturer of wacky see-through computers and ridiculously overpriced? What features should I be looking for? Should I go all-out for capacity, or are there other things that should sway me?

Nick (not a technophobe, just old)

A friend has this one from Philips :

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/sound-and-vision/personal-audio/mp3-players/193887/details

Personally I'd look for capacity and the ability to upload stuff quickly and easily (removable memory card, maybe)

one that has a good battery life, i have the creative zen touch, it has a cool touch pad on it for easy control and it has a 24 hour battery life, beat that ipod!!!, very quick at transfering music from pc, ok a little bit heavier than some but who cares when its sat in the car...i dont anyway

check it out here

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Creative_Zen_Touch_MP3_player_20_GB__5733000

I agree with the Zen Touch, having one myself. The Zen Sleek is also pretty good, and comes in a media version as well. If you plan to use any of the subscription services like Napster (you 'rent' their 1.6million songs for £14.95 a month), then make sure you get a player that sports the 'Plays for Sure' logo, i.e. is compatible with Windows Media 10 and DRM (Digital Rights Management). the Zen Touch is compatible with the latest firmware upgrade.

My other half went for the Creative Zen over the iPod and she's been very pleased with it. Dead easy to load stuff onto it and apparently very easy to use (not that I've been allowed near it! )

Chris

A colleague has a Zen, and I bought my elder son one. My younger lad wanted a Tosh Gigabeat, so that's what he got.

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming ...

I've got a Sony NWA-1000 6GB with 20 hours battery life. The larger 20GB version does 35 hours. Transferring music is said by many to be slow but as it's the only mp3 player I've ever had I can't really compare it. Sound quality is great though.

It's available is a range of colours but I went for black.

Amazon Link

Why do you object to an iPod so strongly?

They are popular for more than just fashion reasons.

www.head-fi.org has a lot of reviews and opinions on everything related to headphones and portable audio.

I really do like my iPod... I did a lot of research before buying it, and it was the easiest to use, had great sound quality, wasn't too expensive, works flawlessly with iTunes (my music database of choice), is good looking, has excellent 3rd party support, etc etc etc...

OK. Maybe I am being a bit prejudiced, but a number of factors apply.

1. I have this view of kit made by that particular manufacturer as being idiosyncratic, expensive, and not compatible with anything else. The fact that it's compatible with iTunes, which as I understand it is their own service, is hardly surprising. IPods in particular had a reputation for poor battery life and total unserviceability at the end of it, which doesn't endear them to me.

2. Last time I checked, pound for mega(or giga)byte, they were twice the price of anything else. I object to being ripped off for something that looks "funky" or "cool" but does nothing better than the same product packaged sensibly but not as fashionably by someone else.

3. I have no intention of buying pop tunes off the internet.

All the above may make no difference at all to the correct choice of product, they're just my little views.

OK

1. I don't think it's expensive for what it is. £219 - 30gb, Large Colour Screen, Video and photo playback (if you want). There are many 3rd Party applications to manage your music, not just iTunes. Battery life is very good on the new models, much better than they used to be. Total unservicability - You've been mislead by the press. I changed the battery in my Mum's old 2nd gen iPod in 10 minutes, using the tools provided with the aftermarket lithium ion battery that I got from China on eBay for about 12 quid that has something like twice the capacity of the original (admittadly rubbish) battery.

2. 30gb for £219 quid. Not sure what else costs less with more storage?

3. Me neither. Overpriced, Low Quality rubbish. At least we agree on one thing!

OK, if you don't want an iPod, then this one looks like a pretty good contender (and has awesome battery life) - BUT if you have to use the absolutely terrible Sony Sonic Stage software, then it then fails to be a contender in my eyes!

http://www.duke-box.com/sony-nwa1000-nwa3000-review.php

Oh, and Sony have the horn over DRM (Digital Rights Management), so I probably wouldn't buy one out of principle!.

I really dislike the way the Creative DAP's work (slide your finger up and down the groove to scroll vs Apple's lovelly click-wheel). They just seem like a poor copy to me. Sorry.

Not sure what iRiver are up to nowadays, but then again, I've never really been interested in their offerings.

Rio have shut down their business, which is a shame as their products were really good (sound quality was amazing out of the Karma).

Hmmm...

Thanks for bearing with me and continuing to give positive advice, Josh

Hehe

I try to help where I can.

I'm sure whatever you get will be fine...

I'm just a bit "into" the whole headphone hifi thing, so I get a bit excited about it all.

Also worth noting is to get a player that will also play WMA files, these are generally smaller file size than MP3 which will allow you to store even more songs...

creative are also releasing the Zen Vision:M 30GB and video playback...

Another take on the theme ....

I use a couple of 2gb SD Cards in my orange spvm2000, and use some shure e2c ear bud things, works great out on the bike and airport lounges alike.

I bought a "fashion Pod" 3rd gen cheap in the states a couple of years ago and this just sits in the car glovebox plugged into the hu.

fluff'

Nice choice of Headphones Fluff...

I used to have a pair of E3C's...

I now use Ultimate Ears SuperFi.5 Pro's

Lovelly Jubberly!