The Sonic Blue S35S is what you want if you are looking for a small, lightweight, and durable MP3 player. It has a 128 MB memory card, which means it is by definition skip free and holds about two hours' worth of CD-quality music (bitrate: 128 kbps). Being splash proof and coming with an armband/belt clip, it is perfect for working out in the gym, or if you're out jogging or cycling for an hour or two. It also acts as a radio and watch/stopwatch.

If you need portable music for an extended period of time (> 2 hours), e.g. while travelling, I guess you should look at either a device that uses a hard drive (like the Apple iPod) or a CD player that reads MP3 files. I would be careful, however, about giving these devices too much of a beating.

Things I noticed about the Rio S35S:

:) Very rugged design, splash-resistant; armband holds it in place in any situation (I use it for running/ gym exercises)
:) Delivers high quality music for people on the go
:) Easy to use and intuitive player and software - no need to wade through user manuals or online help
:) Software installs w/o problems, and admits fast data transfer
:) Sufficiently high volume setting to drown out loud ambient music/noise
:) Looks nice, great design, white front on red body
:) Sufficiently large buttons, intuitively placed
:) Very detailed and high resolution large display; the backlit LCD display is cute in the dark
:) The Rio company has an excellent reputation and they've been building these MP3 players right from when the technology came out
:| Realistically, battery life is 4-6 hours; it's a bit of a drawback that there is no rechargeable internal battery
:| The headphone that comes with it is terrible and cheap; but I guess the manufacturer figured that they could not satisfy most people's preferences one way or the other (and hopefully passed on the savings to us, the consumer)
:| Price is reasonable, $ 180.00 at Amazon/JandR
:| Radio reception is so-so: some very local stations are coming in badly
:| The transparent rubber shell holds the player itself very securely - but I haven't found a more elegant way of getting it out of there except by digging my fingernails into the notches and prying it out that way
:( Mine makes this scratching noise when I turn it on

P.S. thanks to epinions member
ewilliam for the tip about how to use the "HOLD" feature

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 179.88