Everyone seems to be talking about iPods and it's really starting to get old. Every second story on digg.com and slashdot, gizmodo etc. is about iPods and they are just not that good of an mp3 player for the price you pay. I'm sure i'll get a lot of crap for saying this but i don't care it's time someone said something. here is a quick list of reason why iPods are ****. br /br / 1. itunes, why should i need software installed on my computer just to move music on and off my mp3 player. My generic brand or the older irivers had the right idea, using the file system to arrange tracks. This means it just comes up like any other drive, you put file on it and if they are of a supported format you can play them. br /br / 2. Non standard batteries, why??? if my mp3 player runs out at the train station i want to be able to go and buy some batteries. also anything with an inbuilt battery will never work that well after a year. br /br / 3. I need a cable to plug it into my compuer, this is such an annoying feature, it just means that if i want to use my ipod as a hard drive or plug it into a computer it means i have to carry around a cable with me which is ironically larger than the nano itself. br /br / so rather than getting an iPod have a look around at some of the other stuff on the market. personally i like the cheap small generic brand mp3 players. They don't have heaps of space but 1 gig is fine if you switch around your songs regularly and they are so cheap(about $80 australian) that it doesn't matter if you lose they have all the features mentioned above that are missing in ipods.

I have one, and I ask myself this question everyday.

Key features I'm looking for include: a rechargable battery, one that'll hold its place in songs when turned off, and one that can be used in Linux.

I've seen a bunch of free iPod sites that are legit

I have a total battery failure in my iPod mini: I fully charge it, it dies withing a 10 second span (with message and ugly battery with exclamation mark sign). 

I want to replace it on my own.  Is there a place in

I looked a lot at the cables for the Zen players >here< and noticed that they look a lot like the ipod connectors. So I was wondering if the iTrip would would work or if it doesn't interface correctly, here is the only pic i could see with the connector showing >here<

The connector is the same as any of the Ipod cables.
Also it looks similar to the iriver cables, could it work for this one too?

I will get back to you on the iriver my wife has it, when i get a hold of an ipod cable, and I am looking at getting the zen sleek photo.