Decent flash-based MP3 player?

With my Dell DJ pretty much broken after about a year and a half (and me not signing up for the 3 year warranty bleh), I think it's time I got a new MP3 player. I was wondering if any of you had a good suggestion for one.

My only real requirement is that it's flash-based (rather than hard-drive), and not a Rio (I've had bad experiences with them, and don't really want to buy another product from them), and be at least 1GB in size (seems any smaller and I can't fit as many songs as I'd like). Price isn't too big a concern, so long as it's not like $300+, and I don't care about the size of it.

I'm not against buying an Ipod if it's good either (in case you mention that, and I have considered an Ipod Shuffle, but would like to hear different opinions first on other MP3 players).

I've thought about getting a Sony PSP and using it as an MP3 player (along with playing games on it), but it seems like it'll be an expensive item to get everything I need for it. But I'd also like to hear what you think about this (and no, I wouldn't use it exclusively as an MP3 player, I'd play games on it as well).

To generate some debate, whats your opinion of flash-based MP3 players vs. hard drive ones? All I know about them is that Hard-drive players can hold a ton more songs, but are more prone to breaking down. On the other hand, flash MP3 players are kind of pricey too for the amount of data they hold.

So, help me decide plz

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Cellius

Out of curiosity, what was the cause of your Dell breaking down? I've got a DJ too and passed the year mark last month. If after 18 months yours died, I may be worried about my own unit's remaining life.

First of all, thanks for the suggestions. I am slowly leaning towards an Ipod, but will wait till others make other comments (unless they all say Ipod too lol).

Cellius, to be honest, I don't know what happened. I used it pretty normally, and my brother occasionally uses it too. I've dropped it a few times before, but not on purpose, and it usually only fell about a foot or two. My brother one day turned it on, and it came up with a menu with 4 options, Clean-up, Formal All, Reload Firmware, Reboot. If I choose the 2nd or 3rd one, it says "Harddisk problem". I've tried looking it up on Dell, but it basically says "if it's not under warranty, then you'll have to pay an arm and a leg for repair", hence my post here (if someone could find a cheaper solution to fixing it, I'm all ears, but I'm still gonna get a flash drive MP3 so this problem is unlikely to occur).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I was browsing through a local Best Buy looking at their selection (and trying to find ones suggested here, which they didn't seem to have, bleh), when I saw this item:

http://tinyurl.com/syh6p (I know its from Amazon, but keep reading)

The sales guy almost had me sold, but I decided to do some research first before making the purchase (good thing I did, cause Best Buy was selling it for about $199 with a $20 mail in rebate).

I then went to Amazon, and they sell it for a ton cheaper, and it's cheaper than the Ipod as well. The only major con I have with it so far is that it currently only recharges via USB (wouldn't kill my decision based solely on that) and very few accessories (doesn't seem like there's any really good pouch to hold it with, and I don't want to get the screen all scratched up).

What do you all think about this MP3 player?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.