Most durable mp3 player?

[gbryant]

Lo, I've been comparing mp3 players for the last few days and I can't come to a decision. My old NexIA died on me (I finally killed it) and I'm fiending for a new player but I really need a very, very durable player. I'd like something that's atleast 1 GB (long battery life would be nice too) and under $200 but durability is my biggest concern. I travel around a lot, I camp a lot, I'm hard on my stuff, and I'll be taking it to the gym (for machines/weight lifting, not jogging). Any ideas? I've been looking at the Scandisk 1 GB flash player (sounds like it's flimsy), the Creative Zen Xtra 30gb ($100 rebate for joining some audio book site sounds good) and the new Ipod Shuffle (looks durable but no screen is kinda silly). Reading countless reviews hasn't given me a good idea of durability. Could anyone help?

 

[thirdlegstump]

iPod is the best player on the market.

 

[loic2003]

For durability I'd be thinking of a flash based player: no moving parts.

Think iPod shuffle or one the it's competitors.

 

[Looney]

I have a Rio flashbased one that has like rubber covering... i must have dropped this thing well over 50 times and it still works just fine. Only 256mb onboard, but i just slapped on another 512mb SDcard.

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: Hardcore
I have a Rio flashbased one that has like rubber covering... i must have dropped this thing well over 50 times and it still works just fine. Only 256mb onboard, but i just slapped on another 512mb SDcard.

I had a Rio Sport. I dropped it at least 15 times, and it kept going. But don't ever going jogging with it when it's very warm and humid out. Water condensation got into the player and that was all she wrote.
Now I have an RCA Lyra flash based and it SUCKS.
I wanted to get a new Creative Labs Zen Micro, but I hear you cannot jog with them.

 

[gbryant]

except the Ipod is far over my $200 cap. Okay, I'm starting to get tech envy and while the flash based players do look the most durable, the idea of having 10X space for just $40 more is hard to resist. Anyone know HOW resistant the HD based ones are? More specifically the Creative Zen Xtra and Touch?

 

[Zysoclaplem]

Originally posted by: gbryant
except the Ipod is far over my $200 cap. Okay, I'm starting to get tech envy and while the flash based players do look the most durable, the idea of having 10X space for just $40 more is hard to resist. Anyone know HOW resistant the HD based ones are? More specifically the Creative Zen Xtra and Touch?

Depends on what you want to do with them.
Just everyday listening, they are just as good or better.
But for exercise, or moving around, hard drive based mp3 players aren't the best choice.
I personally like the Creative Labs Zen Micro Touch 5gb.

 

[Cobalt]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
iPod is the best player on the market.

I have to agree now that the H120/140 and H320/340 have been discontinued.

 

[Dacalo]

This one is about $30 over your budget but it is solid. Read the reviews yourself.

 

[gbryant]

Moving around? Are you supposed to sit still and listen to these things? While I may not be jogging, I rather assumed you could at least wander around listening to them. The Zen Micro looks good, but $230 seems steep when a Zen Touch is a little cheaper and 20 gig. The size isn't really a concern, I have a big old clunky cell phone and never even notice it.

On the Iriver, the first Mp3 device I had was an Iriver CD Mp3 player (Slim-X?) and after reading reviews and paying a pretty good amount for it, it always had problems, would crash frequently, and finally just broke completely. Iriver was no help getting it fixed. I'm leary of paying over $100 more then similar flash based players just because it's an Iriver.

The Rio player looks like a solid one though, and will probably be my pick if I decide to stay away from an HD based player.