MP3 Players - Which One Sounds the Best?

How could such a simple activity as listening to music be so complicated?

When buying an MP3 player, what aspects do you look for? Memory, features, gaming, labels, adaptability? How about Not Buying Apple?

That choice is nearly impossible. Apple pretty much controls the entire handheld audio player market in the same way as Nintendo controls the entire handheld game player market. Sure, you could buy a PSP, but really, stop kidding yourself: Reaching all the buttons on those things is impossible.

Seriously, try playing "Star Wars Battlefront: Rogue Squadron" without your left thumb cramp up

Apple products advertise themselves as the "Cool Product", or the "Thing That'll Change the World". One can easily see this with the entire line of pretentious commercials and statements about  "Changing Everything". All that malarkey, however, has brainwashed you into believing that they have the best: I mean, isn't it obvious? The sleek design with the shiny chrome finish... now THAT spells "Top Notch"!

Strangely, you can't spell "iPad" with any letters of "Top Notch"

So, why not choose one of the much, MUCH cheaper MP3 players you could choose from, like the 8GB Coby movie and music player? Currently, it's $50 (normally $70), which when compared to iPod Touch's, is  at least $130 cheaper.

However, according to many other customer reviews, the COBY mp3 players are very poorly made and break within a few weeks. At least I had my iPod touch for a few years before breaking...

Now, there are obviously the iPod Nano's, which start around $130. These are smaller and have fewer features than the iPod Touch, but it is a little bit cheaper. 

However, smaller is kind of an understatement.

Maybe they're trying to be more literal when they say "Nano"

It is pretty much 6x smaller, and it is much easier to lose. Also, unlike it's previous generations, it's not really selling as well. No wonder...

However, I see these Sony MP3's that are not only half the price (ranging around $100), but have had good reviews and are made by a legitimate company rather than some knock-off company like COBY (clearly a copy of Sony). 

They don't play games, but they're half the price. Is that enough of a trade-off?

That's your choice: will you continue to go with Apple or tread new ground? 

Choose Wisely.