Some time ago, I purchased a 40GB Apple IPod. My original plan was to take it to work with me during the day so that I could listen to music and then use it at night to play audio books during my hour workout on the threadmill.

This never really worked out.

The IPod was heavy and a bit bulky for carrying around during the day and the built in battery would be pretty much discharged by the time that I arrived home, requiring me to recharge the unit before using it during my workout. I also worried that the jostling that occurred during day-to-day use might damage the hard drive. Given these factors I decided that the IPod would be retired from daytime use and only be used at night during my time on the treadmill. I lived with this arrangement for over a year, but recently decided it would be nice to have a second MP3 player to use during the day.

The first step was to decide which features were important to me. Here’s what I came up with :

1. Must be able to play MP3 and WMA files. Audio book format would be a plus but would not be a requirement because the primary use for this device was going to be music.

2. Light weight and small. I wanted something that I could carry with me at all …

Read more