I bought my good lady an Ipod something or other a few years back and it seems to be fine as a unit to play music on the go, but really annoys me as it seems to have us tied in to Apple and everything they do i.e. Consumer stuff seems to be all looks no substance.

I don't mind using it as I just plug it into my ears and hit play, but I'm thinking I'm wanting something similar for myself – but not an Ipod. So I'm looking for something small, plays music files (not interested in it playing videos or showing pictures) and can withstand some abuse and the elements – it's most likely to be used whilst I'm biking on my tod, so it will get covered in sweat, possible mud and possibly splashed, so I'm looking for something that can stand a few knocks/bumps and can also operate in not-ideal conditions.

The Ipod does seem to do this but it also can do a whole lot more (like video and pictures and games) and I'm just not interested in doing those…

So what else is there out there? I'm figuring with less features something with 16Gb or such is likely to cost less than the Apple equivalent (as it has less features)…I like being able to see the track that is playing, fancy a shuffle feature and a lock system so it won't skip/jump songs when it is in my pocket alongside my keys.

I've got most of my music in Windows Media Format (.wma I think) but I also have it in MP3 format (as I imported it all when I had to install Itunes for the Ipod to work) so the only things unlikely to play would be any itunes music bought before they removed the DRM stuff – unsure of formats but I figure it should be able to play MP3, WMA and whatever the format Itunes uses for it's bought music (mp4 or mpa or something?). Should be easy enough to transfer the music to the unit – either plug in via USB and drag or drop or have it's own interface to allow me to select the music and then transfer it.

Cheers.