definitely a smart purchase, if you're willing to invest an extra $40 CDN in a decent charger and some AAA NiMH batteries. general faults: -i'd like to be able to disable the backlighting on the display for better battery life -the software provided (RioPort audio manager) for managing your mp3 playlists could be a whole lot better -your 64MB starting memory is two 32MB flash cards, and since songs cannot span two cards the wasted space is double what it could be -yes, i know the point is portability, but a port for a power adapter would be a relatively inexpensive feature to add. -my right earphone developed a slight static crackle after a few days. obviously that won't happen to everyone, but it's annoying for me. also, don't buy this if you're running windows NT, you need USB support!

I don't have anything to compare this product to, but I can tell you what I do like and don't like about it. The sound quality is excellent. It has earbud headphones that come with it that are surprisingly comfortable. The price was great too, which was why I bought it (I am a Compaq employee and got it for $99). However, the product spec is misleading. The mp3 player does not hold 2 hours of music, at least not 128 kbps mp3s. I can only get about an hour and 15 on. Also, the batteries do not last 10 hours. Using regular energizers, I got about 6 hours of battery life. I plan on getting rechargable batteries. I also don't like how easily the device scratches. I threw it in my backpack with a couple of plastic mechanical pencils and there's several scratchmarks on the thing. I do, however, love how lightweight and portable it is, which is probably why it damages easily. It makes a great workout companion, and for the price I bought it for, it definitely does the job I want it to well. I heard complaints that the software it comes with doesn't function on windows 2000, but I have no problems with it.