Suggestion for a new Mp3 player?

Hey all,

Well, sadly, my 4th Gen iPod broke. The whole exclaimation point on folder deal. I tried everything, disk mode, diagnositic mode, and it is so far messed up that Windows will give the climes letting me know it connected...and disconnected, within a span of about twenty seconds. I am taking it that the hard drive is gone as most of the tests (that I allowed to finish within a reasonable amount of time) passed.

So, I was thinking of getting an 8 gig iPod nano. However, there ARE other Mp3 players out there and in truth I have a three month span before I can really do anything anyway.

I guess my first question is (maybe you know of rumors better than me), will there be a bigger iPod Nano in the near future (i.e. a 12 gig one)? Or are they basically staying with 8 gigs and make adjustments on that (touch screen?)

I am also looking at the Sansa's...in which it plays music, videos, etc, is 8 gigs, at a fraction of a price, AND can use mini-SD technology that could theoritically hold even more. Would that be a good player to buy (the 8 gig Sansa?)

Of course, I have interest in other Mp3 players as well.

Here are some of the things I would like:
Plays Audio (Mp3, WMA, audible). I don't care about video.
The screen makes it relatively easy to tell that song. There should be a backlight (that can be turned off and on)
Flash memory (to avoid what happened to my poor iPod), at least 8 gigs. I would love something bigger though.
Small enough to place into a jean pocket (my iPod did nicely).
Costs no more than 250 U.S.D.
If possible, let it have disk mode where I can just drag and drop the files easily. ITunes is so annoying.

I think that's it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.