Gift for the Mrs - can't decide..

[ouch]

To break with tradition and male stereotypes, I'm thinking about buying her present this year before christmas eve..

She's hinted she'd like a new mp3 player and I've got it down to a short list, all 8Gb, but have kinda hit an impasse, the pro's and cons are from reading online reviews (mostly via testfreak)..

Ipod nano

+ It's pretty much the benchmark and is well reviewed.
+ Nice to look at
+ Comes in green (her favourite colour)

- It's an apple (I ain't a fanboy)
- small screen
- expensive


Sansa Fuze

+ Cheaper (means I can get her something else)
+ expandable memory
+ Lots of favourable reviews

- occasionally unreliable
- poor support from sandisc
- small screen

Samsung P3

+ Looks lush
+ capacitive touch screen & other gadgets
+ Excellent reviews (not so many though)

- Somewhat expensive
- Rare (less support)


She said she's not much into video, so maybe the Samsung is overkill, but it seems to have the quality of the Apple, without the pricetag or the whole cult-of-itunes. Or do I take a gamble and go with the cheaper Sansa at risk of it being DoA or breaking down.

Generally I avoid the likes of Apple & Sony due to their philosophy on proprietary standards and generally controlling nature, though the success of the ipod is starting to make me balance that against the quality of the product..

I've not really had a chance to play with any of the candiates, most hifi-stores keep them in locked cabinets and when asked, they're for 'display purposes only' and can't be demoed -boo! So has anyone been lucky enough to compare some, or all of the above? Is there something else out there that I've missed?

Any thoughts welcome..

G

 

[Guest]

Much as I hate to say it, most women would choose an iPod for themselves (why do you think they do these dumb colour ranges). Of course, you may end up having to manage the damned thing on your computer (as I do for my female neighbour) and iTunes absolutely drives me crazy.

So next best thing is a Sony at about the same price-- cool brand name, nice-ish looks, drag and drop operation, better sound than Apple. You'll both be happy.