I'm having a bit of trouble with this one. When I think of what mp3 player would be best to get my mother, I think iPod. She even already has a MacBook.

But. She wants to take this thing on her hike next year. Big hike, Appalachian Trail, the whole thing in one summer. To me, this really suggests that proprietary rechargeable batteries would be a bad idea. She may have rather infrequent chances to recharge them. Also, she's got it in her head that she'd like to have an FM tuner in it. I'm not sure how much reception she'll get most of the time, but whatever.

I know there are external gadgets that can charge devices that have rechargeable batteries, and I've even seen solar panels that hook to packs, etc. but I think this is going to make things to bulky and/or heavy. (I'm open to suggestions along these lines, though, if they're small enough.) It's one thing to carry just a player and one of these charger things, quite another to have a great number of other essential items and have to be able to carry them all with you all the time for weeks on end. Supplies can be replenished along the way, so a couple of spare standard batteries could do until the next town stop, where they could be tossed and new ones bought.

So anyone have a suggestion for one of these? The amount of storage is the least of our issues. 1GB would be plenty, even 512MB is probably plenty. The key is that it's small and light, has FM tuner, takes a standard battery (probably AAA size), and can be filled from the MacBook somehow. (That last seems to be a sticking point with some players.) Ease of use would be nice (this is my mother after all, not too technical ), but probably has to be sacrificed somewhat in favor of the other features.