Well, I've gone through 2 Archos players (both died and were returned to Amazon), and I'm now expecting my third Dell DJ (first two both developed headphone jack problems). I really liked using the DJ with MusicMatch as my ripper/burner/organizer, and transferring files using Dudebox. Dell also has a great no questions advance exchange warranty, but I am sick of returning the thing. When the new one arrives tomorrow it's going up on ebay.

I had bought my partner (an Apple freak) a 15gb 3G iPod a few months ago. But he never used it and has now given it to me. I like the size better than the DJ, but the interface is, frankly, klunkier. Battery life is shockingly poor compared to the DJ. Also, I still don't like iTunes. I had tried it out a few months ago and uninstalled it. I reinstalled it to make my initial transfer to the iPod, but have now bought Anapod Explorer and will use that with MusicMatch, and will probably uninstall iTunes once again.

I probably still wouldn't pick the iPod as my first choice, but I have it, it's paid for, and so far it works. So I'm stuck with it.

What else would I try? Probably not the Creative Zen Touch since it's likely to replicate any build problems with the Dell DJ (both made by Creative and very similar). Probably not the Rio Karma because, although it sounds really cool, it also sounds like there are vastly more reliability problems than any other player and it has a rotten warranty. Maybe the iRiver IHP-120, though it has its share of detractors as well as fans.

Personally, I think that HD-based MP3 players are really cool, but the technology is still not quite ready for prime time.