I made the mistake of ripping the entire last Harry Potter book down while my wife was recovering from surgery. Needless to say, once she started there was no going back so I had to leave my empeg with her so she could finish listening to it (I mean, how could I say "I know you're bedridden, in pain, bored to tears, and have no means of finishing this audio book without my empeg, but I have to have tunes while I drive"?). I didn't even realize until that moment that we didn't have an easily portable CD player in the house! So I feel your pain, though at least you know soon your friend will be with you once again.