I've been intrigued by mp3 players as of late. As far as cheaper alternatives to the ipod go, the ones from Creative seem to impress me the most. They also make smaller flash memory players like the one you're looking at.
Zen Micro
5GB of space 2,500 songs at 64kbps or 1,250 songs at 128kbps. (ipod mini is 4GB)
Built-in radio tuner (Not standard on the ipod or the ipod mini)
Offered in 10 different colors (ipod mini has 5 available colors)
Removable and rechargable battery with 12 hours of playback to each one. (Comes with 2 batteries in the box. That's like 24 hours of continuous playback.) If you believe companies when they quote battery life of course. ipods do not have removable batteries and they last 8 hours.
Highest audio quality of any mp3 player according to Creative with a signal to noise ratio of up to 98dB.
Some come with a wired remote control, belt clip, and a stand.
Weighs 3.8 ounces. (ipod mini is less here at about 3 ounces)
List price is the same as an ipod mini at 249.99 USD but can be found cheaper.
Their flash memory players include the Creative Labs NOMAD MuVo TX FM 256 MB MP3 Player which has the same memory as the one you're looking at, has a built in FM radio tuner, and is priced at 90 USD on amazon.com.
Back to hard-drive players, you can find the creative zen xtra on amazon in 30GB for 197 USD, 40GB for 220 USD, and 60GB for 278 USD. The ipod may still be the standard, but it has some strong competition and it's getting harder and harder to justify the extra cost to get an ipod.
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