Cheap mp3 players?

[roserebellion]

So, here's the skinny. For about a year now, I've been using my own personal mp3 player to feed music over the work speakers while I'm at my job. I've made playlists based on the musical preferences of my coworkers, and they as well as our customers seem to like it better than what is typically supposed to be fed through.

The only problem with this arrangement is that I take my mp3 player back home with me after my shift (it passes the 40 min bus commute). This year I've considered purchasing an additional mp3 player to leave at work just for my coworkers to use. I love my coworkers which I know is hard to come by, so I do think it's worth it for them and general work morale (the later especially for the holiday season, as it's retail and most employees start loathing holiday tunes with a passion.)

The thing is, my personal mp3 player is an 80 gb ipod classic. I dropped a hefty sum on it, but it suits my own personal music interests. Clearly it's not necessary for the purposes I would need another mp3 player for.

So I guess, give me suggestions.

• I would love something that's not a terrible price. I don't think I could legitimately justify anything higher than $30, especially when I have holiday shopping for friends and family to consider.
• At the very least, 8gb of storage. More would be great, but I know that also raises the price tag.
• An alright battery life--this thing might be used up to 8+ hours a day. So a long battery life would be nice, or the ability to play while it is still charging.
• the ability to random play
• your own personal experiences with your mp3 of choice. what did you like about it? what drove you absolutely nuts with frustration?

 

[starbeam]

I can't say much about iPods/MP3s, but I have seen some cheap ones at claw machines. Near impossible tho.

iPod nano (Tiny one, as I like to call it "Baby iPod") should not be that expensive...