:madp: :madr2: :madg: :madp2: :madg2:

I dropped my Creative Zen Micro Photo this morning and now it is FUBAR.

$200 down the drain.

So I am in the market for a new MP3 player, any suggestions welcome.

Here is my criteria:

1) NO I-POD
2) CAPACITY of at least 4 gig
3) DURABLE

I really liked the Creative player, but it had 2 major problems. Firstly, this particular unit has virtually NO available accessories, and this contributed to its ultimate demise (no rubber protective pouch to hold it in). Also, it suffered from a bad connection in the head phone jack, which I found out today is a very common problem with the Creative devices. So I don't plan to buy another Creative MP3 player, I'd like to try something else, but we'll see.

I don't really mind the I-POD as a device, but I absolutely refuse to let I-Tunes penetrate even 1 byte of hard drive space on my computer. So I-Pods are out, and don't try to convince me otherwise unless you have found some rock solid, free, 3rd party software that lets me use an I-Pod with no I-Tunes whatsoever.

Yes, I'm angry at the moment.

Bart