MP3 Player Odyssey - Steps Backward, Forward, Dizziness Ensues

Ok, so I've posted my thoughts on MP3 players I'm looking at purchasing here. I ended up buying the Cowon D2 8GB flash memory player. After reading numerous reviews, message boards, and even watching a couple videos on youtube, it was pretty clear this was the right choice.

This particular brand isn't available via local retailers, so I had to buy it online. After shopping around, I found the best deal for the D2 at a site called zipzoomfly.com (referred by Cowon's own site) This is a good site with prompt, efficient service.

My player arrived when promised, and setup was a snap. The D2 doesn't come with much of a manual or documentation, but figuring out the touch screen navigation and the menus wasn't a problem. I didn't have any problems setting up Windows Media 11 to synchronize with the player either.

However, a few problems with this player popped up when I tried to use the player for the first time.

1. Not all of my video files (all in .wmv format) were able to play. Some files would play without problem. Others would play on the player at all. On other videos, the image was very jerky - a frame every other second or so.
2. The menus require to much digging to get to basic information. When using the D2, I found that it would take up to 10-12 taps (sometimes more) on the screen just to get to an album/artist/track I wanted to listen to.
3. The player would show the wrong album art for the track I was listening to. This happened regularly. Some tracks would show the wrong cover art with different wrong covers numerous times. I checked the firmware, and didn't find any fixes for this.
4. The D2 would read any of my SD cards. This was a big deal since I hoped to view pics from my digital camera on my player. While the prices of these keep going down, I'm not interested in spending another $50 or more to get something I already have and use.

So I'm returning my D2. It's a shame, since I had high hopes for it - and I'm losing 15% of my $219.99 due to a restock fee.

After trying out other players, my Odyssey had me staring at the iPod Touch 16GB - but spending $400 on that player just seems crazy for a player that will be obsolete in less than 12 months.

Last week, Microsoft released their new Zune2 series of players, but I was disappointed in these players overall. The Zune flash drive players didn't offer any compelling features or advantages I was listed in, and I want to avoid getting a hard-drive-based player due to moving parts that are susceptible to breaking.

But I came across a deal that's too good to pass up. Amazon.com has the original (read: 1 year old) Zune player for only $89. This has a 30GB HARD DRIVE (ugghh), BUT!!!!! the player was selling for $249 about 2 months ago. When I factor the $89 for the cost per GB, this is a no-brainer. Also, when I considered that Microsoft is giving free software updates to their new software for their older models - there really wasn't a reason't a reason not to do it. Actually - on reason is that the player is out of stock and won't be available for a month - but I can live that. Getting a player for this caliber for only $89 is good any way you look at it. It's almost disposable at that price.

Updates to come later...