I’ve already done a search, but it didn’t turn up much so I will ask all of you. I’m in the market for an mp3 player. I want it to have at least a 5 or 10gb harddrive(no flash) and I really can’t spend over $200. I jut got a new(well, new to me) car and it doesn’t have a cd player. Rather than putting out 200 in a cd player, I figured I could buy an mp3 player and that way, I could have all my songs with me wherever. I could use the car kit off an old CD player, or I might buy an FM transmitter. My question for you all is, what mp3 player would you reccomend? I know some of you are very biased towards iPods but in all honesty, I don’t like Apple and don’t particularly want one of their products. I’ve done some searching on ebay, and that didn’t turn up much. Any help is appreciated… 
I know you said no iPods, but why? They’re the BEST MP3 Players on the market today, and easily the coolest. It’s the one apple product I support :] I checked ebay… here’s one going for pretty cheap so far.
The only other MP3 player I’d suggest is the Dell Jukebox which is supposedly up there with iPod.
I would say since you only want to spend around $200 and that you dont want any sort of Apple product, the only way to go for a HD based MP3 player would be the Dell Digital Jukebox DJ. If you hurry now you can pick up a 15 GB on Dell.com with FREE SHIPPING!! 
Edit: Forgot to mention that I have an iPod and love it, nothing beats it…
iPod. Even Maximum PC (who is decidedly anti-Apple) says yes to the iPod.
Less than $200 and 10 GB Hard drive? could be challenging…
With ebay, all things are possible
I have been very happy with my Nomad Jukebox Zen extra.
I ended up getting a deal on the 40gb version for $240 from bestbuy. Opened packages rule.
If you don’t mind the jog lever interface, it’s a breeze to use. The sound quality blows ipod’s out of the water, even with out any dsp functions turned on. The battery life is advertised at 14 hours. I get 8+ hours with the equalizer settings on. 40gb is absurd overkill for me, having only 4gb worth the music, but it also functions as a nifty external harddrive. Larger then my own laptops drive by 10 gigs to. Kinda silly to have a player with more memory then the computer you use it with huh? In anycase, the zen’s are all high capacity, the smallest I can find are 30gb and they run around $270 new.
You might have luck on ebay. Ask at a bestbuyesqe place about any discounted players, you might get lucky like I did with a return.
My suggestion is to save up and spend some quality money on a player and earphones. For an extra $50-$80 you can get a huge step up in capacity and sound quality. At 200, you might be stuck with a flash based player or an early ipod/ipod clone, which is no fun.
-Andy A.
Before I even read this thread, I was considering the Dell. I love dell with all my heart and it is an iPod equal. I think for the Dell, I’ll spend more like 250 so I can get all the goodies. What can I say, I just don’t like Mac… 
You love Dell? Ok, that’s really wierd. You are the first person to say that. I wouldn’t be surprised if you use a Mac you would really like it, but anyway, one less person in line to get my PowerBook…
But if you don’t want to go iPod, then it leaves you with Dell DJ, not the best player by far, but ok. But atleast look at the iPod.
I agree, my neighbor got one and showed it to me… it is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Like I said, the only apple product I support
I love Dell. I really do. We’ve had many Dell computers, and I currently have a Dell laptop. Any problem I’ve ever had, which has been rare, Dell fixes it instantly almost. On my laptop, it had a defective fan…I called Dell, and in less than 24 hours, I had a new fan installed in my computer. A technician came to my house and did it on my kitchen table…now that’s what I call service. All my Dell products have had a very long life and I like the styling. I’ll consider the iPod since I seem to have made my price range the same as the iPod now. I didn’t really want to have to spend over 250, but I will whether I get a Dell or an iPod. And I have used a Mac…it wasn’t terrible, it was just very different and I didn’t like it. Everything is in consideration…so yeah.
Heres my opinion:
Although I’m personally an Ipod guy, you can get a Rio Karma for 250-300. It got the PCworld best in class award, so it has some things going for ti. Also, for around that same price, you can get Ipod Mini, which has less space, but is smaller. Also, a little more expensive is 15GB ipod. however, i would not get 15, as if you go to 20 gb, then you get free dock and carry case, etc. So, those three are in your price range. Of those three, I recommend the Rio, and if you’re willing to dish out extra, consider the Iriver IHP 120 and the Ipod 20 gb. One warning: THe iriver does not read the codec on purchased music, its one major drawback.
JAH, i think that you have answered your own question, just go get the Dell thing. Support your loyalties, they have been good to you, pay them back, buy something else from them.
Now, i have to say that i would NEVER even consider buying a Dell product, and i have NEVER heard of someone so satisfied with there stuff… sooner or later you will find out way. Oh, and sure they fixed their mistake, but the reason people hate dell so much is because they have so many issues with there stuff that it became practical to have door to door service calls, don’t think thats cheap, they think if they can get you to like them for it, youll buy another product from them.
Yes i am a Mac user, and wouldn’t have it any other way. (By the way, my current Mac here is almost 8 years old, still running strong with Mac OSX, never had any problems with it at all… except its almost 8 and apple doesn’t support it, so i had to hack OSX on it with XpostFacto)
I am getting an iPod very shortly, i am just waiting to apple’s world wide dev conference to see if they update the iPod, otherwise i am getting a 40GB iPod for use as an iPod and a portable HD. But if i didn’t have 500 to blow on it i would get the 15GB ipod. iPod mini isn’t worth it, 4GB is a lot of music (around 2 days of 192 AAC), and for $50 more you can get a 15GB iPod, if you ever fill that you need to watch for the RIAA on your back… think about how much money that would be if you bought all that…
Now that you have heard that bias information, go back and reread the first part of my post.
later
I have a flash iriver player…and about the codec on purchased music…it’s the way you upload it that makes the difference. You need your program to upload in WMA or MP3 form…for a while I was using itunes to upload in AAC…and it couldn’t play that. I’m very satisfied with my iriver.
I have an Archos Jukebox Multimedia. It’s out of your pricerange (and needs, it plays back and records video and pictures), but I like the look of the other Archos players as well.
Check out ebay for Archos, you can get some great deals like this
Cory
I know that everybody is hyping about the iPod, but I don’t really understand why. I mean I agree that it is an awesome MP3 player, but it isn’t really special compared to other MP3 players. I think that the extra money being put into buying an iPod is simply for the iPod name, and not extra things that you may get. I mean, why not get a Rio, or Dell?
Picked one of these up a couple weeks ago. 40gb for $270 and I LOVE it. The software kinda stinks though, so I picked up Red Chairs Notmad Explorer. Way better functionality, and has some really neat extra functions. After I dropped $300 on the player the $25 wasn’t much.
That is exactly how I feel about it…
I believe it all is like the Sony Video Camera thing(I’m a huge video nerd, so I relate to it a lot). In the early 90s, the video cam to have was a Sony because they had the best technology in video and were unmatched. When Mp3 Players came out, it was that way with the iPod in my opinion, at the beggining, iPods were leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. Now that there has been a bit of time, all the other brands are catching up and the technology isn’t so foreign to them. Today, almost any brand of video camera is going to be great, but Sony still charges more because they’re Sony and many people do not know that a non Sony video cam is just as good, if not better. A dell or a rio or any other brand is the same as an iPod, iPod was just first so they think they can still charge more than anyone else. It’s just hype in my opinion and I’m getting the Dell…
Woah, that’s a better deal than most MP3 players… crazy :ahh:
Anyone seen the new Creative Zen Touch. It looks very much like an iPod and even features a touch pad for control. It’s weird too cuz the screen has almost exactly the same layout.
http://images.creative.com/products/images/inline/zentouch_chart.gif
One thing to add, it looks like its going to go for $269.99 for 20 gigs when it is released here soon.