I'm just about to purchase a portable player and was interested in feedback from anyone who has experience with these portables. Pros/Cons please.

OK, it's not one of the products you listed, but Apple Ipod is very good.

• Pro: tiny form factor
  
• Pro: desirable design
  
• Pro: very fast (IEEE1394) file transfer
  
• Pro: nice hi-res screen, scrolls in all the right places for long track names etc, good backlight
  
• Pro: very easy-to-use UI
  
• Pro: well over 10 hours battery life (I've never run it flat)
  
• Con: no insert or append mode (in car-player terminology)
  
• Con: Linux 1394 support is still iffy and I can only transfer from Windows (or Mac, but I don't have a Mac)
  
• Con: no retrieving music from player
  
• Con: you'll need an IEEE1394 card unless you have a Mac (say £20)
  
• Con: the earphones make my ears hurt (but that may be because they're so good at reproducing bass)
  
• Con: relatively expensive compared to physically larger players
  

The Linux 1394 stuff works for some people; perhaps it's just my particular card that it doesn't get on with.

Peter