My fiancee said she would like an MP3 player for her birthday. I have no idea which brand is worth a darn. I am limited to about $100. If this isn't enough to get a decent one I might just get something else. The ones I see in that range are about 512mb. Does anyone have any advice on units in this price range? How many MP3s will 512mb hold (on the average)? THANKS!

 

The number of songs that a 512 player will hold is dependent upon how new the compression technology is. The newer compression algorithms make the space go farther.

I can't help you-- I have an iPod, and it doesn't sound like that's what you want. (I like mine)

 

If you are close to a bestbuy, they could really help you out. they have several mp3 players in a broad range of prices. I also have an ipod, Its a black nano. I think it is almost indestructable.

 

You will find that there is a ton of different MP3 players out there. It all gets really confusing. There is a host of IPod users that are very loyal and I probably would have bought an Ipod except that I was looking for a small unit to use for working out and the Ipod Shuffle didn't have a display and no FM receiver. You can pick up the Ipod Shuffle for like $70 for the 512 mb and $100 for the 1 G. They are nice units, just didn't fit what I wanted.

I bought this one at Circuit City for $109:

http://us.creative.com/products/prod...?product=12720

You can order directly from Creative also. It is a pretty good unit and comes with an armband for working out. and has an FM receiver in it. It has a small display which is good for seeing what song is playing, but that's about it. Only drawback is that it uses one AAA battery, but so far, I am still on the supplied battery. I am not sure how many songs you can get on it. It advertises around 500 something, but I think that depends on your compression. The supplied software is real easy to navigate also.

 

I bought my wife a 1GB iPod Shuffle for $90. She really likes it. It doesn't have a display, but she mainly uses it when she is running. She's not looking at the display anyway.

I have a 15GB 3rd Gen iPod. I absolutely love it. I can take a ton of music with me everywhere. Great purchase!