i would recommend having the smaller mp3 player and changing your songs when you want to hear them. besides, the trend for mp3 players now is going smaller using flash drives, which are more durable than those bigger, spinning hard drive mp3 players. mine's a 1 gig and most of the time, its more than i need. i change the tunes like once or twice a week or so. it could be because i listen and go back to the same 1-2 albums for more than 2-3 weeks or so before tiring of it.
bought 2 diffrent ipod models, i didn't like them. poor sound quality and battery. the only thing i like was it looks good.
SanDisk http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-SDMX4-4096-Sansa-Player-Expansion/dp/B000ETVKHE Comes in 2, 4, or 8 GB, I recommend the 4, not too small, not too big either. The best thing about it is that it's only $154 for the 4 gig model on Amazon. I've also seen the 2 gig version for 130 at best buy
I bought that one and it died on me twice. Even after updating the firmware, the OS tends to lockup when powering up. I ended up buying this, which actually have a bad system for selecting through songs. It's actually kinda sweet and easy to use now that I've gotten used to it, but MP3 shouldn't have a learning curve. http://www.samsung.com/Products/MP3Player/ArchivedMP3Players/YP_Z5ASXAA.asp
I have an Archos Gmeni XS 100 4gb. A little over $100 brand new. Not refurbed. It's my favorite of the 3 mp3 players I've personally owned. I've also had an iriver h10 5gb and a Rio Nitrus 1.5gb. We also bought my gf's son an ipod mini 4gb. The Archos is the only one I've not bothered to read the manual for. It's very instinctive. You can use windows explorer and just drag and drop. Using Windows Media Player (most irivers) or itunes (ipods) to "sync" is the opposite of fun. The Rio Nitrus was easy to use, but they went out of business and I left mine on an airplane. Shockingly, the crew didn't find it. The iriver sounded good, looked cool, and was pretty slick when it worked. But, it died after about 4 months. I purchased a factory refurbed model on ebay. Still waiting for my refund from my Square Trade warranty by the way. Not sure if Square Trade is worth the hassle. It took numerous calls to get "approval" to just to send it in to see if it could be fixed. Then took a couple of weeks to find out it couldn't be. Now, it's been about 4 or 5 weeks since they told me I'd have a refund in 2 to 3 weeks. The ipod works fine, but doesn't sound very good. It also requires using itunes to load your music. itunes is defintitely one of the worst pieces of popular software I've ever come across. Not recommended at all. But, the worst part about ipods is that you have to pay more and you don't get more. At least in my opinion. Back to the Archos, the only problem is that it doesn't come with a case, and there aren't any good cheap case options. I recommend the Archos, but I've only had it for a month or so. Also, just got some Creative EP 630 in ear earphones to go with the Archos. They sound WAY better than any earbud I've ever tried and they don't fall out. They're about $30 plus shipping from a reputable dealer. Lots of fakes on ebay.
If you want to hookup one in a car, is it better to run it through the tape player or get the FM transmitter? i hear the quality of the transmitter can be kinda crappy
