budget mp3 players

[VinylHanger]

Has anybody been using a budget mp3 player with good results. My wife just got an RCA Opal and now my daughter wants a player. The budget is between 40 and 50 bucks. Sound quality is important, but toughness would be the most important thing. Also do most kids care if it has a screen or not, the cheaper ones seem to have screens that are a bit useless.? The Creative Zen Stone is a pretty affordable player with good reviews, but no screen. Any and all thoughts are welcome. I'm spending this weeks per diem and eating beans and rice all week, so the budget is pretty firm.

 

[gearhead]

I got my daughter a Samsung YP-Z5 for Christmas, and the non-customer-replaceable battery died in May.
They repaired it free of charge.
Less than 2 wks after getting it back, the unit won't turn on, gets hot when you try to charge it, etc.
So-I'd recommend staying away from that one.

 

[Avocado Dream]

VinylHanger, you have a PM, if I didn't botch it up.

- Dave

 

[House de Kris]

Well, I cannot recommend what TO buy for 40-50 bucks, but I can suggest what NOT TO buy. In May I bought a counterfeit 2G Apple iPod Nano for $40 new. Nothing but grief. Although it has a bigger screen than a legit iPod and plays videos, it doesn't seem to work with more than 512M of data in it. A buddy of mine also bought one at the same time to give to his kid, but I don't know if he had problems like I did/do.

So I can't say what to buy, but I can say don't buy a counterfeit iPod.

 

[jedo1507r]

A used DAP would be good to start, since they're a bunch cheaper than new; however, find one with a removable battery (or something that fastens the case with screws instead of super glue).

Personally, I have a Samsung YP-T7J(X) - had it for over one year without trouble; however, I do wish Samsung had regular firmware updates for their DAPs, since the Korean version played videos and displayed lyrics on that little thing, but intentionally locked such potential out.

If all else fails, a $20 MP3-playable portable CD player should do justice.