mp3 player advice?

[zarn02]

i'm looking for a portable mp3 player, as i have a shitload of music and can't really take my desktop overseas with me when i move. also, the flight is probably going to be brutal, and i'm likely to try and hijack the plane and fly it into the sea if i don't have some tunes...

i'd prefer solid-state, but as i also don't have a big, honking pile of money to spend i'll consider traditional hard drive models.

1. it needs to hold somewhere in the 50GB range.
2. i can't have it shitting itself about music that's over 128KB/s, like my phone does...
3. if it'd also load and play .m4a files, i'd be giddy as a schoolgirl.
4. i can't have it doing goofy copy-protection things, like deleting everything if i try and load it onto a computer other than the one it's "mated to." again, my phone does this, and it makes me want to beat someone with a sock full of quarters.

so... anybody know of anything like that, or am i being unrealistic?

[zarn02]

*does some shopping*

well, the 80GB zune looks nice.

but the price does not.

*kicks back to wait for suggestions*

[Le Pirate]

i don't know if you're going to find anything solid state above the 32gb range (such as the ipod touch).

that being said, most spinning HD based players are pretty well built. I like the stuff sansa builds, and samsung has some pretty good players out there.

but...my ipod finally crapped itself after 4 years of heavy use, and I'll be buying another one. I know people hate apple, but I love their players. i had my last one running a hacked version of the OS right before it bit the dust, and it would play FLAC loseless audio too (hacking it could of been part of the problem too though? )

[zarn02]

i'm trying to steer clear of ipods, not out of any zealot-like distaste for apple, but for the simple fact that I HATE ITUNES SO VERY VERY MUCH.

*breathes*

do sansa or samsung have anything in the 50GB+ range for storage?

[jagstang]

+1 for scandisk sansa, but you aren't going to get solid state that high w/o some dough.  I love my sansa fuze.