MP3 CD players have become incredibly affordable lately. I just paid $50 for one with a 4-line
LCD display, file search, and all that good stuff. Two problems though:
1. When you choose random play, the "random" order is the same every time
2. It's PINK! The store was out of every other color and I was desperate.
The battery life isn't quite as good as my regular audio-CD-only player, even when playing standard audio CDs. It's also slightly larger, so it's a bit less convenient to carry around if I'm walking to class, jogging, or biking.
I can't quite justify buying a memory-based MP3 player yet. Granted, they are smaller and skip-proof, but they are several times more expensive than MP3/CD players, and they generally hold only 1/10th the music. iPod's are expensive too, but MAN are they nice! And they're not pink either.