Dilemma: Which MP3 player?

Since I travel a lot, an MP3 player is pretty indispensible. I've had a 20GB 4G iPod for 2.5+ years that has a crashed hard drive since April. I've been waiting for something new to come along, and knowing Apple was supposed to be making major announcements this past week (Sept. 5) had me excited.


Since my old iPod had a crashed hard drive, I definitely want to get a player with flash memory since there are no moving parts, and these are more compact in size as well. (The trade-off to not getting a hard-drive based player is smaller flash memory and higher price.) I also wanted to get a player that did videos (especially for watching episodes of the office, and maybe a couple movies and sports clips.


Apple only got it half right. Ideally, I wanted 16GB of flash memory, so the new iPod Touch is the ideal candidate. There's so much to like: built-in WiFi, a gorgeous 3.5" widescreen, and Apple's flawless integration and operating system. However, the $399 price tag is freaking me out.





The other Apple candidate is the new Nano. Unlike previous versions, this popular player now does videos and manages to do so in a dimunitive size that's about half the size of a credit card (and about as thick as 1-2 credit cards as well). I stopped by the Apple store to check these out, and they are a true wonder. The price is a more modest $199 for the 8GB model.

However, I can't bring myself to get the Nano. I love iTunes and getting podcasts, but I don't want to play Apple's game of limiting features and forcing to upgrade a year or two down the road. Here are some of the featuress that I wish the new iPods had

• a 16GB Nano would be passible
• built-in FM tuner to listen to radio (especially at the health club)
• expandable memory card slot
• larger screen on the iPod Nano

So I think I'm going to get the Creative Zen when it ships. While a 16GB version for $299 will be shipping soon, I'm planning to get the 8GB version for $199 (the same price as the Nano). But the Zen delivers an SD memory slot to increase memory capacity or to view and transfer pictures from my digital camera (a big plus). There's also a larger screen that considerably larger (2.5"). Lastly, the Zen uses a standard min-USB interface, so that means one less cable that I'll need to have for transfers and charging the battery.

While the Zen is larger than the Nano, it's still a tiny player that packs a potent punch and will serve my needs well. If only there were any places that had it in stock so I could pick one up...