Well first of all, this question does annoy me slightly, as it implies that ipods are not mp3 players. They are, it's just that due to massive sales they have become a brand name more popular than the actual product itself (like Hoovers). As to which mp3 player is better, that's a matter of opinion. My brother has an ipod and it cost him £210 I think. I have a Sony nwa3000 and it cost me £175. The ipod he has can display pictures, but then obviously the screen is small so the quality isn't great. The ipod has a great menu system which seems to be the best plus point for it. My sony system has a fairly good menu system, but it can take a few seconds to fully load which is slightly annoying. The ipod has a colour screen, the sony is only monochrome, but it looks really cool because the actual player is a metallic purple and the screen is designed so that it looks like the words are displayed on the outside of the player (kinda hard to explain but here is a picture). It looks great indoors and normally, but on very sunny days because of the metallic reflection, it can be quite hard to see the screen. The actual product from ipod to me doesn't look very good, but many people like it. It is slightly maller and thinner than the sony so fits in a pocket better, but then you can get 8GB versions of the sony which are smaller and cheaper. The sony appearance looks amazing in my opinion. The sony used to be let down by its software - terrible when first launched, it is now much improved so I suppose this isn't a problem anymore. The sony actually uses a different compression algorithm than the ipod so you can fit more music files onto its hard drive, but then the hard drive is smaller - 20GB on the sony compared to 60. Having said that, I have got close to 2000 songs on mine and it's not even close to a quarter full yet, so this can be discounted unless you use incredibly high quality files or you have a music collection to rival any radio station. Both have great headphones, but I think the sony ones just edge it in terms of sound quality and clarity. Both also have great features - the ipod can be used to play very basic games such as solitaire and look at small pictures. The sony has features that make use of its software - when you get music from a CD or the internet, it sends information to a central database, which sends information back about the title, artist, album, year of release and genre. It then stores this information with the track on the player, and then you can use the Time Machine, where the player randomly selects a year and plays songs from that year. It also has artist link whereby the software recognises artists similar to ones you already have on it, so that if you have for example Led Zeppelin on it, you press artist link and it will come up with similar artists also on the player, such as the Who. You can also rate the tracks out of five and later play only the best ones, also the player itself works out your top 100 favourite tracks automatically. You can enqueue songs to play in the ipod which I don't think I can do with the sony, if you choose a new track halfway through a song it will change track rather than playing it after the first one has finished. The sony has a far better battery life than the ipod, which my brother admits is rubbish. So in summary - ipod has great menu system, good colour screen, can view pics and play basic games and is a bit smaller, yet with a massive hard drive. It's battery life isn't good, itunes music store charges 79p per song which can really mount up, and is common. Sony looks amazing (different colours available), really stands out from the crowd, has great headphones, excellent music features, and is a bit cheaper, has got great battery life. However the nature of the screen means it can be awkward on very bright days outside and menu system isn't as well developed, and is a tad bulkier. Ultimately it's your opinion. There are many many other types out there, but obviously I don't have experience with any others. My advide - go to an electric retailer and ask to see the different models they have in stock, and to try them out if possible.

Id have to say mp3's because you tend to be able to do more with them. get a psp and you can sufr the web, play games, watche movies and other videos, get pictures and listen to music.

iPods! Get a nano!

An iPod is an MP3 player. If you go the money and want the best then you can not do much better than an iPod, but there are cheaper and just as functional MP3 players on the market.

go with a Creative Zen model or an iRiver. I'll pick either of those two over an iPod.

Creative Zen mirco. I love it! I got more for less with this model. The only thing you don't get is all the fun extra like everyone sell for the iPod.

Yes. One. An ipod.

a pink one :)

I just bought my first one.

i have two ipods ... ones for my office and ones for driving on one of my motorbikes ... the motorbike music is much angier

I have an ipod classic 80gb, a nano, and a shuffle. I had the touch, but didn't care for it so my nephew has it now.

My MP3-sansa e250- can play movies, record sounds, display photos, have an Fm radio, and play more songs then I have. My mp3 can use multiple music downloading softwears as apposed to apples ipod one program. My MP3 has a huge crack on the screen because it got thrown across the room and works just as well as when I first opened the package. Ipods are double the price and most cant do all that. If you drop it, your screwed. Yes ipods are way better (roll eyes.

MP3 Player is better.

I would go with most MP3 players over any iPod. First off, I don't have nearly as many issues syncing stuff as many iPod owners seem to. Second, I have an FM tuner built-in. I have all of the same features as a Nano and more. Third, I can replace my battery myself when it finally dies for far less than Apple charges. Fourth, I paid half as much.

Depends. Stock, MP3 players are generally better, and generally cheaper, and oftentimes have less storage space, but not always. Now, if you were to wipe the firmware on an Ipod a couple generations back and install a custom deal, then, it could definitely be cheaper, though a lot more risky, and you'd get all the storage benefits with basically every feature you could ever imagine. Though I believe the batter life is diminished, at least from what I've seen.