Looking for a good quality cheap mp3 player. Any suggestions?

[DoctorMowinckel]

The one Wrenn linked to would be ideal for battery life. Looks like the LCD screen can only display a handful of colours, so it won't be rendering album art of have anything else that'll eat away at the battery. It's only 4GBs, but there's an 8GB model. I'm sure Apple people will say 'but you can't fit all of your songs on it!', great. I don't need or want to carry 500 records everywhere go, no one does.

All you'll need to hook it up to your car is a stereo with an auxiliary input, and a headphone extender. Don't buy the 'MP3 car stereo adapter cable' at a store, it's just a 1/8" male to 1/8" male headphone cable, they're not worth $10-15. Buy one at RadioShack and save yourself a few bucks.

[Eviecorn]

I've used a Creative Zen before and it was excellent.  Highly recommend.

[Ivaness]

My first MP3 player was a creative Zen, haha. Hot pink!

Then I sold it to a guy on eBay... who wanted a hot pink one. He emailed me after he got it and complimented my music choices!

[RAMChYLD]

I too have a Creative Zen before this. I loved it to death and brought it everywhere I went. It even does video and runs three days before the battery dies. It's not as thin or elegant as an iPod, but then, it actually had a tiny hard disk in it.

However, if you'd like something less mainstream, look into Archos or iRiver. They also make MP3 players. Both may be better as well since they support the OGG Vorbis audio format which Creative and Apple doesn't.

And if you own a cellphone that accepts memory cards, chances are there's already MP3 playback built in. Just couple a high capacity memory card and a bluetooth headset to it and off you go!

I'm sure Apple people will say 'but you can't fit all of your songs on it!', great. I don't need or want to carry 500 records everywhere go, no one does.

OT, but well, believe it or not, my entire music collection weighs in at only 3.3GB. Then again, I only have enough CDs to fill up one drawer and a small box, since I'm the type who likes buying CDs and them ripping them myself. I have very few downloaded music, I only download because the songs I'm after are not sold in stores anymore or is only available online.