How much music do you want it to hold? Are you looking to load up your entire CD collection? If so I would recomend an Ipod or a Creative Zen. Do you just want a couple hundred songs to get you though a trip or workout session? Then I would suggest the Zen Nano (comparable to an Ipod shuffle only much cheaper and it also has a screen allowing you to see what is playing and create a playlist). Another good one is the SanDisk Sansa, I bought one for my father for Xmas, it was cheap and super user friendly, much more so than a shuffle. The quality is good, one AAA battery lasts forever, and unlike the shuffle it has a screen to see what music is playing as well as the ability to make a playlist.