I'm looking for a decent flash player for running with, taking on long road trips and occasionally maybe plugging into my 2ch system.

I'm looking at 4MB Sandisk sansa and Creative Zen V right now. Anybody got any feedback, suggestions on build quality, sound quality?

I gave my wife the Sandisk last year and it works great, good sound quality too. It's also nice to navigate through too.

I got a Sanza for my son. I'm looking forward to playing with it . You can plug an SD card into it too and it has radio and recording capabilities.

I have been very happy by my Creative Zen, and my wife has a Sandisk Sansa. Absolutely no problem with neither, although I think my sounds a little better using the same mp3s.

I have the Creative Vision M 30G and the Creative MuVo 2G. The wife has a MyMusix (Radio Shack brand) 1G. I like the ZVM the best. Of course I have a nice little amp with it so I don't have to worry about running out of power. It also has a custom cable to let me use the line out from the player.

The other two are the flash based players we use when walking and bike riding. The Creative is easier to navigate but for the money the MyMusix was a pretty good deal.

Well, I know everyone loves to hate it, but I am quite happy with my iPod nano. And the other iPods I have. YMMV.

I have the 30 GB zune and I love it. I would like to have a flash player for cardio and weight lifting though

Not totally relevant because it is a Hard Disk version but my 5GB Creative Zen from almost 2 years ago is still working flawlessly but everyone I know who bought IPODs at the time either had to send them back for repairs or trashed them because they didn't want to send them away for repairs. I am not easy on portables
either. Constantly dropping and left in cold cars overnight.
Certainly, IPod quality may have improved since then.


Also, my battery is replaceable, while a battery replacement in the older IPODs meant yet another shipment back to the factory. Hopefully, that has changed as well. That one was a big factor in my decision.

I couldn't tell any difference in the sound of the units but we did think my ear buds sounded better than early ipods, but mine were also less comfortable for me. Again, this info is dated and this last one is certainly subjective.

Anyway, I'm a happy customer so unless reviews talk me out of it when it comes time, my next portable will be a creative product.

Yeah, the Creative Zen plus gets good reviews for sound and ease of use, but I read several complaints of the plastic joystick on it breaking off. Plus you cant remove the battery pack.

Conversely the Sansa seems to be a solid player with decent options, slightly heavier with metal backing plate you can remove to get to battery pack. The only thing with the sansa was apparently some static with low volumes and not as good sound quality.

I would get the creative, but I think the cheap plastic joystick would always worry me. The sansa is $50 off right now at Future Shop, so its looking a bit more attractive.

Thanks,

I loved my Creative Zen V. I really did. But my little plastic joystick did break (split right in half).

Bad News: I had to send it in for repairs or replacement.

Good News: They replaced it with a Creative Zen V *PLUS*.

So, now, I love my Creative Zen V Plus. I really do. But I'm careful with the joystick.

Yeah, I just picked up the 4mb sansa today for $99. Had the Zen V plus in my hand and it felt great, was smaller and lighter and my intuition said to pay the extra $30 for it despite the joystick fears.....but when I saw the 90 day limited warranty on the package I got scared.

Did the joystick break on you within the 90 day period??

I wondered about the joystick on the new ones. My older Zen is a vertical touch bar rip off of the IPOD touch wheel. Works well.

I'm glad this was mentioned because I really want one to upgrade to something with a lot more memory in the distant future. I'm buying more music than ever now and of even more varieties than before.

I'm also not a fan of the tiny nub mice built into laptop keyboards. I'd call it what it is less than affectionately nicknamed by many around here, but it's too crude for this board.

No. Paid a bit for the service from Creative, don't remember how much. $25? I'm just guessing.

The new "Zen" - not "Zen V" - looks like a better designed product from the durability standpoint. I'd get it in a heartbeat if I was on the market for a new player now. The Zen V, being phased out, is considerably cheaper right now, though.

Yeah, I played around with a Zen in store and really liked it. Kind of want something compact that you can put in an armband to run with.

It was $50 more for the same 4 meg and I really dont need the video screen though. Still havent taken my sansa out of the box though.

For a running MP3 player, I really like my iPod shuffle (metallic one). I don't think I've charged it in about 2 months.

Looks like Creative Zen Stone is also a cheap solution.

I like my Creative Muvo (really old one) because it's drag/drop for music. No software required.

Looks like the Creative Zen V plus went on sale for $79. I think for that $$ I'm gonna take back my Sansa and get it. Just something about it that I liked....despite the joystick.