Flash vs Hard-drive mp3 players...

[RandomFool]

Here's what I came up with

Flash:
+Smaller
+Faster
+Sturdy
-Less Storage

Hard-drive:
+More Storage
-Larger
-Fragile

 

[intogamer]

Hard Drive based players have a better chance of dying. Flash is pretty much unbreakable.

I'd go flash as it is getting pretty cheap anyways. One of the reasons Apple decided to cut the 4GB iphone. Jobs probably secured a deal with Samsung on 8gb/16gb/32gb Flash Chips.

 

[corkyg]

Flash is generally unbreakable but, flash devices actually wear out over time.

Flash

 

[RandomFool]

Any idea what the current life time of flash is? Not that I foresee myself having any mp3 player last to the point that the flash wears out on it.

Flash is nice but the size is killing me, 32 gigs would cover me nicely.

 

[intogamer]

I'm sure you'll replace it in 3-5 years.

 

[corkyg]

Flash life is a variable because itis primarily a function of how many times you write to it. Reads don't cause a problem, but writing is what is limited. Ergo, if you load it up with reference files, and then just read them, it could last indefinitely. There are plenty of tech articles on the web that you can Google on the subject.