iriver iHP 100 10 GB MP3 Jukebox

I did *tons* of research on MP3 players before I bought the iHP-100. Clearly it and the 20 gig iHP-120 are the best players on the market right now, followed by the iPod.
Pros:
- 16 hours of battery life (3G iPod's get 8 hours)
- Same size as the iPod and smaller than Zen
- *NO SOFTWARE REQUIRED TO ADD MUSIC TO THE PLAYER* almost no MP3 players have this capability. You plug the iRiver into any USB port and you can drop music or files onto the drive. That's it. No installing extra software, nothing. iPod and Zens both need extra software to function
- LCD remote control included (extra on the iPod)
- FM radio (extra on the iPod)
- Simple interface
- Digital recording (and digital output)
- Active support and updates from iRiver, they just added OGG music file format support, one of the few players that can play OGG files

Cons: price, it's not the cheapest player on the market, but I think you get what you pay for here

I did a lot of research on hard-drive based players (in comparison to MP3 players which don't hold nearly as much space), trying to find the perfect one - this is a huge chunk of money we're talking about here! I was going to buy the iPod, but after reading a few reviews on how it isn't *always* compatible with PCs, which is a chance I couldn't take, I decided on getting this entirely PC-compatible iRiver jukebox. I love it! Aesthetically, it's very sleek looking and I love the silver / dark silver / blue screen contrast. More importantly, it is so easy to get running - I had about a hundred albums, tons of other MP3s, and audiobooks loaded just a few hours after I got the product. It would have been much faster, but that had to do with my USB port; I'll talk about that in a second. Navigation takes a little time to get used to, but once you do, it becomes very easy and intuitive. You can load all types of files on it, from MP3s to WMAs, and even just regular files since it can be...Read more

The versatile iRiver iHP-100 (10GB) is the first hard drive-based MP3 player I've seen that brings advanced features into a casing only a hair larger than the iPod's. It has just about every input and output that the power user could ask for, excellent battery life, a fully functioning in-line remote with an LCD, and excellent playback/recording quality. This combination doesn't come cheap, but if you're in need of all these features, the iRiver's [$$$] retail price is money well spent.