Looking for Mp3 player info/recommendation

Factual Questions
1

I bought my first (cheapo) mp3 player awhile ago, and while I’m happy with the sound quality, I’m very unsatisfied with the way it sorts the files; or rather, it doesn’t. The only options I have for which tracks it plays is “by artist” or “by album,” which are based on the properties attached to the file itself.

What I would like is to create playlists: e.g. I want the ability create a folder called “exercise music,” another called “relaxing music” and so on, and then move files in and out of those folders. Preferably, I would also like to keep the ability to play all tracks by a given artist or on a given album, etc. regardless of what other folders they’re in.

Any guidance on this? Do any players with such abilities even exist?
I’m looking for a rugged high-capacity player (10-20 GB), so if anyone has any specific recommendations, they’d be appreciated.

2

Yes, units with ‘playlist sync’ or some such capability are fairly common, though a lot of low-end-to-midrange players don’t have it. Myself, I have two which can do this, my sandisk m230, (pretty well designed and stable, only 512 megs memory, other players in the same model line go up to 4 gig,) and a creative zen micro (5 gig or so hard drive, gets touchy when I try to play it on the move.)

Both of these sync playlists through windows media player. I believe that playlists are the default sync mode in itunes for ipods

Wish you plenty of luck looking for good rugged players. :slight_smile:

3

Pretty much any decent player offers this nowadays.

If you don’t feel the need to be different, just get an iPod.