NEED RECOMMENDATION FOR NEW MP3 PLAYER

I have a Clip+ and a Fuze+, but both are old and the battery will not hold a charge for very long.  I’ve been considering the Clip Sport.  I love  the interface of my old Fuze+…the way all your music (internal and external drives) all show up on one list.  I also saw on Sandisk.com that for the Clip Sport the higest SDHC card recommended for mp3 is 8GB.  I can live with that, I guess.  Does anyone find it inconvenient to go back and forth from the internal drive to the card when selecting music to play or for making a playlist? I’d really like to get a Clip Zip, but I found an grossly overpriced refurb on ebay. Does anyone know where I can find a reasonably priced Clip Zip?  I’ll be looking forward to hearing from users RE recommendations for a new player.  Thanks in advance.

" I’d really like to get a Clip Zip, but I found an grossly overpriced refurb on ebay."

Refurb Clip Zip 4GB players are priced at $30 on Ebay. Yes, new ones are a bit expensive. At less than half the price of a new one though, imo the refurbs are worth the risk, especially if you buy two of them.

As for the Clip Sport, it has a limit of 2,000 songs for each of the internal memory and the card memory. ** I use 256 kbps mp3 for my music. It took around 14GB for me to reach the 2,000 song limit, so I use a 16GB card in my Clip Sport. A 16GB card holds around 14.6GB or so of files. The Sport can’t combine songs from internal and card memory into a single playlist.**

I also have Clip+ and Clip Zip players which I have put Rockbox on. Rockbox is a free alternative firmware (operating system) which is available for the Clip+, Clip Zip, Fuze, and Fuze+, but not the Clip Sport or Clip Jam. Rockbox enables many additional features, and has a huge song database. Some format 128GB micro SDXC card  as FAT 32, fill it with songs, and use it in a Rockboxed Clip+ or  Rockboxed Clip Zip.

The Clip Sport is okay if you don’t have a large number of songs you want on the player. Some might buy a 4GB one for example, and use the internal storage for classical music and podcasts, and have a 16GB or 32GB card in it for rock music. If you are okay with 2,000 or fewer songs on a player, then the Clip Sport would be good for you. Yes, you could put around another 1,000 songs in internal memory at 256 kbps if you get an 8GB Sport, but then you couldn’t integrate those together in a playlist with songs on the card. Depending on the average length of your songs, you might need a 32GB card to reach the 2,000 song limit, especially if your songs are at 320kbps mp3. Also keep in mind that Sandisk players(except for those that support Rockbox and have Rockbox installed on them) have trouble with cards faster than class 4, so using a Sandisk class 4 micro SDHC card is advise for maximum compatability. Some 32GB cards by other makers might cause problems in Sandisk players even if they are class 4 or slower.