I'd like to bribe myself into exercising more often by getting an mp3 player. Unfortunately I can't afford the fancy-super-nano-whatever ipods. Can anyone recommend a cheap (like preferably less than $80) mp3 player that can hold a decent amount of songs and won't break after a month?

be careful of cheep.

The shuffle is about your price range, great for music, less great for books, but it is small, easy to use and perfect for the gym.

My husband has the $99 shuffle and loves it. It holds quite a bit, doesn't have a fragile screen, and the battery life is pretty good. I've seen them refurbished, which is basically like buying a new one, for $80. Check www.outpost.com for the refurbished ones. I know they sell them in their store, not sure about their website.

Look for ones by a company called Creative. I got a free Muvo (about the size of a box of matches they used to give you at restaurants) with my subscription to Audible - great for holding a book or two, but not so great for playlists. Then I picked up a Creative Jukebox that was being discontinued for about $200. It is 40G with all the bells and whistles of an iPod except the video. It is a bit bigger than the iPod, but I don't have a problem with that. I have about 200 CDs (all cuts) and six books on it and am still have over 30G free. My advice: go to a Best Buy or Circuit City - look and touch what they have, then come home and do some web-searching for the best price. For me, the Best Buy was the best as I had over $100 in refund coupons (Best Buy Bucks) I was saving for "something" and this was it plus the discountinued price was another $100 off - I love, love, love mine! And my husband says, buy all the storage room you can afford - if 10G more is within your price range go for it.

Thanks!! Guess I'd better do some research now...

I bought my daughter a "sandisk" one it has a 17hr AAA battery life (it only uses 1 at a time) and it holds well over 100 songs, it cost me $80 at sears.