Linux-compatable MP3 players?

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>

|   An MP3 player would be a solution.
| I'm looking for the following characteristics...
| 
|   - can play MP3 and hopefully OGG files
| 
|   - can be managed from linux.  I don't care whether it's a USB port or
|     loading up a *STANDARD* memory card via my all-in-one card reader.
|     I obviously do not want something that requires me to run the
|     manufacturer's proprietary Windows-only control program

There are many choices that are good, bad, or somewhere in between.

iPods are OK but expensive.  They can even run Linux (but the only
advantage of doing so (AFAIK) is that you can then play oggs).

Traditionally, iRiver was the device of choice for Linux folks but
iRiver has mostly gone over the the dark side (PaysForSure(TM)).

This is what I chose recently:
  http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=009219&cid=MP.29&PHPSESSID=fe028cb7628857f9fe0d098c13c320fb

+ cheap ($60) so you can easily write it off and replace it when
  something better comes along

+ small, light, solid state

+ does OGG (and MP3 and WMA)

+ looks like a USB drive to a computer, so no fancy programs are
  required

+ has a built-in USB plug, so you don't need to carry a USB cable.

+ 512M is fine (not generous).  I guess that amounts to a few hundred
  songs (I don't use mine for music, so I don't actually know)

- not all headphones fit because there isn't a lot of clearance
  between the plug and the bridge to which the lanyard can be tied.

- built-in "Li-poly" battery is probably not replaceable.

- voice recorder is OK.  Telephone quality?  8000KHz mono.

- no radio

- cannot seem to fast forward through oggs that I have created by
  capturing CBC's stream.  I don't understand the issues involved so
  this might not be possible.

- no bookmark feature, as far as I can tell.  But when you turn it on,
  it resumes where it left off.
  
I am not able to judge sound quality because I don't listen to music.
I also have cheap headphones (not the bundled ones -- I haven't tried
them).
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