Not looking to ipods, also not looking for something too fancy (8gb is enough for me and a playlist option). I have a sansa clip mp3 player but i'm having problems turning on, the the jack entrance has some noise problem (a common problem apparently) and the clicking noise changing the tracks, so i'm not interested in buying another one. Any suggestions?

Hmmm first thing coming to mind is a long since obsolete mp3 player, however it's cousins which are more 'fancy' are probably still simple enough...

I'm talking about the Creative Labs Muvo, i got a 512Mb one back in 2006...

edit: Hmm having trouble finding a good link...

They're still around? I remember having a Creative Zen a few years ago...

well thats easy an ipod ...oh

I'm not sure. I got mine for like $20 since it was a discontinued product, and it still works just fine for me. Doubles as a storage device if i'm in a pinch. Only issue is having a fragmented Filesystem would glitch out the mp3, so reformatting and copying the files fresh usually dealt with those issues.

Amazon Link


If it doesn't have to be battery powered, the Raspberry Pi might work... at $25 it's cheap, just need a SD card with a an OS on it and a USB micro to power it. And maybe a monitor and mouse if you don't have it set up to autoplay when it starts...

Philips GoGear Vibe?
I don't really know, I've been thinking about getting one for my mother perhaps in the hope she can operate it without calling me every five minutes.. but I haven't done any actual research into the subject.

I'm also looking for something of the sort. :/

You should give the Sansa Clip (especially Clip +) another chance. I think it's the best you can get in terms of price, simplicity (no video etc.), supported audio files (ogg, flac etc), battery life (>10h) and disk space (-> microSD slot). And the best thing: you can rockbox it: http://www.rockbox.org/ (better responsiveness, tons of options, plugins (you can play doom on it, seriously), better filesystem and playlist support etc.; maybe it would also resolve the clicking problem for you).

I'm quite fond of my Sony Walkman (not the cassette player). My first one lasted for years. The only reason I retired that one was because I upgraded from a 256 MB model to a 8 GB model. I'm not sure if you would be able to find one though.

I highly recommend one of FiiO's audio players. I currently have a FiiO X5 high definition audio player and I'm in love with it. They recently released the X1, which is only $99-$150, depending on store / promo and such, and plays mp3's and lossless audio to boot (note, though, that it has no internal memory, but that it takes one micro-sd card, currently up to 128gb)

http://www.fiio.net/en/products/18

At first glance it looks like an iPod... although from glancing at the specs it looks like what the iPod should have been, more open and not locked behind a crappy iTunes program and DRM...

Any issues with DRM or it being flaky for any particular reasons? Limits in quality? Feel both in the hand and the UI?

Clicking noice?! Never had such a problem on my one. Why don´t you just return it if you have such unordinary problems with it?

Wish you much luck! :)

From what I've been reading, the UI on the X1 is apparently a nice step up from the X5, which I honestly love the feel of, but many complained about the UI when it first came out. What's nice is how responsive the company has been. A couple company reps are constantly on the head-fi.org forums posting info and taking suggestions for UI improvements, many of which they've implemented through firmware updates over the last year. So though when the X5 was released the UI was a bit rough, I think they've addressed most of the issues folks had already, and the sound quality is so unbelievably good that I really haven't minded the occasional hiccup or need to update firmware with the X5.
My previous player was a rockboxed iPod Classic, which was okay as it held a good amount of music, but the difference in sound quality between the two is substantial. No issues with DRM that I'm aware of, though unfortunately the firmware isn't open source, so they haven't been able to openly work with the folks from Rockbox. No issues playing any files I've been able to throw at it so far, and the sound is really just fantastic. :)

edit: oh, I should mention though: the primary complaint I've seen folks have with the X5 has been with the scroll wheel, which is mechanical and not quite as accurate/fast as that on an iPod Classic. For me, this just means it feels just a bit clumsier to the touch than the iPod scroll wheel, and when scrolling through my library, I notice that the wheel will *occasionally* fail to register a turn, so I may have to push it an extra degree every now and then when scrolling. This upset a lot of folks who were used to the iPod wheel, but is a very small thing for my personal use.

Wasn´t the iTunes-DRM removed some time ago?!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay#Announcement_of_FairPlay_restrictions_removal

yes but not on audiobooks
and the ipod doenst play flac or ogg