MP3 players with the best battery life

Has the daily ritual of recharging all your portable devices become so loathsome that adding one more gadget to the list might just make you snap? Or maybe your extreme, jet-setting lifestyle requires a portable music player that can run for more than 30 hours without a recharge? Well, you've come to the right place. We've assembled this list of our favorite long-haul MP3 players, all of which are capable of a week's worth of casual usage without a recharge.

Leading the pack is the Cowon S9, which pulled off 36 hours of music playback and a mind-boggling 11 hours of video during CNET Labs testing. For those with more refined tastes (and bigger wallets), the Sony X-Series Walkman offers stunning OLED picture quality, a capacitive touch-screen interface, exceptional audio quality, and an integrated pair of active noise-canceling headphones. It also goes the distance with 33 hours of audio playback and 9 hours of video.

The Samsung P3, Apple iPod Touch, and Microsoft Zune HD, all offer a great balance of audio and video battery life, averaging 30 to 40 hours of audio and 6 to 8 hours of video. If your needs (or budget) run more to the modest end of the spectrum, the Philips GoGear Spark is a great buy with 32 hours of battery (CNET Labs results) life and an ultracompact design.