Right then people. Is it possible to get a MP3 player, not a iPod that will hold over 200 hours of music. I don't know much about MP3 players or that as I have never really looked into them. I did get a cheep one a year ago I think it is a 4GB one. So I am looking to upgrade. Any help would be appreciated.

depends on what you want, but in short the answer is YES.

There are many players out there that hold 8gb+ (even my mobile phone can now hold 32gb!)

Do you just want mp3? or do you want video, media centre capability? wi-fi?

Any particular reason for the no no on the the Ipod front? Only reason I ask is that they really do what they say on the tin, and do it VERY well, plus there are so many accessories (docks, head units compatible in car etc) they make a strong case for themselves.

Well, i think its average of 4mins=4meg, so you want something with a memory of around 12GB.

Why dont you want an ipod? Any reason other than everyone has them?

Also, 12GB is likely to be flash memory, so for a similar price, you could get a hard drive mp3 player with much larger capacity. It depends what your going to be using it for.

just MP3 and has to work with Windows Media Player.

Reason I don't wan't a IPod is because everyone has them and I want something a bit diffrent.

the sound quality of the new 72x/82x walkman is great, one of the top out there. the included ex headphones blow the ipod headphones out of the water as well. and in general its sound quality beats the ipod hands down. and its got good battery life. there are threads on it in the anythingbutipod site forums and such. works with mp11 and other media player software, or drag and drop. build quality is also pretty nice, and the tactile controls make for easy control without looking. i know touch screens are the "thing" but having to always look to change anything is not good.

that's how I used to think, then I tried an Ipod and realised why everyone had them

I love my Creative Zen!
It's a Flash based player that comes in 4, 8, 16 and 32gb sizes. Really good little screen, though I haven't watched much video, sounds fab to my ears and holds masses of music in lots of different formats.
I'm not sure if it works with Windows media player, though it does play WMA files - but the software that it comes with is really easy to use!

For MP3 players I have never seen the battery life last more then 10 or 11 hours in some players. The 2gb MP3 player I use im lucky if the battery lasts 8 or 9 hours fully charged. So although 8gb maybe fine the battery life may not last to play all that music.
Like gorillathebino that posted above I have never been keen to go and buy an IPod.

Darren

my walkman 728 easily hits its battery life. and in other reviews its been confirmed. its rated for 36 hours, i've never run it down dead because it at lasts so long i inevitably plug it back into the pc before its halfway
plus the headphones it comes with rock

I'd add a vote for the Sony NWZ-A8 series. The battery life is humongous, they use Windows drag & drop now instead of that abomination of a s/w package that Sony used to force on its customers, and - like frasera says - the supplied h/phones are superb. You'll pick one up for about £60-70 on Amazon if you time it right. They're neat too, and well put together.

If you plan on using it to watch MP4 videos, note the probs reported in this thread.

I'm personally torn between the Samsung YP-P2, Sony NWZA8-- and Cowon iAudio D2 has anyone got one of these or used one extensively?

The Sony and Samsung both have Bluetooth but am I right in thinking only the Samsung can be used to answer and make calls when paired with your mobile? In addition the YP-2P has a a bigger screen and lot of extra non-MP3 player features.

I know Cowon have a good reputation and I like the fact it has a DAB radio in addition to FM.

Decisions, decisions...

If you want just Music than the Meizu M6 SL 8GB is a real nice player.

The new Creative Zen X-Fi looks great..

http://www.creative.com/products/mp3/zenxfi/

Specs of the Zen X-Fi

2.5 inch screen
X-Fi audio technology with Crystalizer and Expand modes demoed on site
Video: 5 hours (MJPEG, WMV9, MPEG4-SP4, DivX4 4/5 and XviD4)
Audio: 36 hours (MP3, WMA, AAC5 (.m4a), WAV (ADPCM), Audible 4)
WLAN: only for the 16GB and 32GB versions
FM with 32 preset stations
Price 16GB for S$329 (US$209) and 32GB for S$399 (US$254) and S$299 ($146)

Another vote for the Zen here... Bought mine from Creative refurbished. My Dad also bought one from Amazon.

Got a 16GB Zen yesterday via Amazon. £100, excellent player and so easy to get music on and off via Media Player

It works with Windows Media Player

since you know so little, i think you should just get an ipod upon further consideration:P

Why ?

Microsoft Zune? I love mine and very few people have them. 30gb for 100 quid if you shop around.

While I agree the included iPod headphones are not worth much the matter of sound quality among the mainstream manufacturers is another matter. In fact, the sound quality among the top players is generally in the same league. They all put out good and comparable sound quality. This is typically the conclusion from the more professional or informed reviews.

Don't pay no mind to such remarks. Ipods are ranked very high for a reason. The fact that they are simple to use is their biggest advantage.

I recently picked up a 16GB Creative Zen from Argos for £99.99 (they also had the 8GB version for the same price. Eh?)

I haven't used it extensively yet but so far I have been very impressed by it. The supplied earphone are a bit cheap but you can easily use another pair.

One thing I forgot to add in my post above is that I would recommend not installing the software which comes with the Zen. Vista and Windows Media Player support the device natively and the synchronisation is much nicer than with the Zen software.

Why do you say that ? I was asking a fairly simple question based on the fact that a number of products were being recommended and it was advised that that they ignore those responses and chosse an ipod (if that what "Don't pay no mind to such remarks" actually means )

Don't you just hate it when someone asks a question and never returns to acknowledge the comments?

Whether you realized it or not, and whether it was a joke or not, you and the iPod were being made fun of.

I have not recommended any particular brand or model. That's for you to decide on based on reasonable arguments and experience. The former is not the case with the response that was originally made to you that made you ask 'why.'