Sony E-Series Walkman (second generation, 8GB, red)

Pros: the size is right for all day listening, the sound is great, and the physical layout couldn't be more intuitive. I just bought this player to replace a creative zen that keeps locking up, and am very pleased with the result.

Cons: the screen is really too small to watch videos, something that the zen did well.

Summary: because my creative zen 8gb keeps locking up, I decided to look for a replacement. My budget is limited, so my choices were, also. A friend of mine had a sony stick style mp3 player, and recommended that I look at the current crop of players. I'm glad I did. After opening the blister box. I was impressed with how small and light the player is. Since the instsallation software was installed on the player, I connected it to my pc and installed all the software. The interface is very simple to navigate, and I had no trouble putting music, photos, and videos on the player. The only gripe that I have is the screen size. It's really too small. That being said, the music playback is, in every way, superior to the zen. The volume goes higher, the quality is crystal clear, and the volume rocker is very sensitive, so you can find the ideal volume for a given piece of music,