If you’re planning on buying an MP3 player but your knowledge only goes as far as “iPod, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, iPod shuffle, everything else…”, then you should check out anything but iPod’s guide to buying mp3 players. The article breaks down the discussion by reminding us of the essential aspects of an MP3 player, such as sound quality, physical specs i.e. size, battery life and storage capacity, and of course price. At the same time, the guide also adds other items that may not be as essential but should be considered nonetheless, such as controls, video support or connection method.
The article also uses specific MP3 player models (other than the iPod) as examples to help you narrow down your options; last time I checked there were about 1,523,907 models of MP3 players out there. You’ll probably end up buying an iPod, but hey, at least you can say you thought things through.