The moral I'm picking up from this story is still this: Don't buy your girlfriend a hard-drive based portable MP3 player...

Someone stole my GF's CD player from her gym bag last week. Now she's asking me to get her a portable MP3 player that's suitable for the gym and jogging. Everything I read says to stay far far away from the Karma (I don't think she needs 20GB anyway) and I'm seeing much of the same about the 1.5GB Nitrus.

I'm tempted to get her an iPod, but I think they're overpriced - and their warranty isn't that hot either. 4GB would be a good size for her, but nothing of that size is available from Rio. I also can't bring myself to pay $150 for a 256MB Cali. Maybe if it were $75. Even then it would be a hard sell - with 256MB I'd have to re-encode some of my music at abysmal rates to get any decent amount of tracks on there.

So I'm stuck. Something that uses a standard 2.5" HD is far more bulletproof and easier to repair or replace a drive. But too bulky to use for jogging, especially strapped to an arm. Might be acceptable in a tight waist pack for some general workouts, but probably wouldn't hold up too well to bouncing around either.

Damn, I'm glad I do the majority of my own music listening in the car - now I just have to find time to install the empeg into this new ride.

Bruno