looking for mp3 player for X mas gifts

Hi all, I am looking for mp3 players for my 2 oldest kids. They want IPOD's. I don't know much about these things and wanted to know what to get. Ipod vs other brands. Which way would you go?
Thanks

There are lots of good options, even if you don't go with Ipod. Personally, I don't like that you can't swap out the battery on the Ipod's when they die. You have to send them in to Apple and they charge you for a new battery. I am currently looking at the new Philips GoGear (6gb or 30gb) and also the new Creative Microphoto. They also have built in FM transmitters and view photos as well.

just my 2 cents..

If the kids want ipods I would get them an ipod. The ipod is more then just an mp3 player with kids. Its "the thing to have", its cool and so on. A different mp3 player just wont cut it even though there pretty much the same thing. You know how kids are.

I just bought my girlfriend a 2GB Ipod Nano for 198.00 on amazon.com for christmas. She has been bugging me for a few month to get her one while I spent thousands on the HT! haha.

I think it would boil down to what all features you are looking for rather than just the brand. I personally would go for the iAudio X5 cuz id want a big HD plus option to record voice, FM, etc.

I'd suggest you to check the following link, which I think would be a nice place to start:

http://www.cnet.com/4520-11467_1-6371634-1.html?l=3

Also, please take a look at the following comparision on how they all stack up:

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-6270692-1.html?tag=cnetfd.og

Cheers!

Depends on your budget and what the kids want. Agreed, the ipod is the "it" MP3 player, granted it's the more expensive one too. I've had about 5 or 6 different ones over the years and the iPod (for me) is the best one because of simplicity of syncing w/ your music library and buying new songs.

My next recommendation would be a Creative Labs MUVO. It's small and it's EASY to load songs. Bare bones though, and memory is much smaller. I saw one for 256MB and an FM tuner on Cambridge Soundworks website on Black Friday for $20. That's done but they have others. The Rio Carbon is well liked, but that company is now gone.