Dear CNET members,

Normally, every Friday I would greet you with a "Happy Friday!" However, for this week, out of remembrance and consideration for all the folks out there who are effected by our dismal economic state--those who have lost their jobs or homes, or are going through some rough times, my heart goes out to you, and I wish you nothing but the best. I know things will look up eventually, so stay strong. Take care and the best of luck to all of you! Now let's see if we can help Grandma Louise here with her MP3 buying decision for her grandchildren.

Grandma Louise, you do have a difficult buying decision in your hands--not only for figuring out what MP3 players are out there, but also for the more challenging of things, figuring out what MP3 players your grandchildren will love. You received a great deal of very helpful recommendations from our members and after reading through our members' answers, it's almost a split decision between an iPod of a sort or SanDisk Sansa MP3 player with a few others in between the two. Many of our members have their favorite players to recommend, but many have also taken the time out to break what types of MP3 players there are and what to consider when purchasing one--such as memory space, music format, and many other additional features. So, before you jump into reading everyone's answers in the Q&A, I have highlighted a few members' answers in the Q&A section that offered up some great general advice, and once you've gone through those, check out all the different advice. We even have a few grandparents and even a teacher recommending MP3 players based on their experiences. So have a read.

Louise, in my honest opinion, regardless of what you pick for your grandchildren, I think for the efforts you put yourself through to try to comprehend all the MP3 player mumbo jumbo that there is to learn, in my book, just that effort alone makes you already a very cool and hip grandma! I'm wishing you the best of luck with your MP3 buying decision. And thank you members for all your help. Have a great weekend!


Cheers!
- Lee

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Featured member solutions
for last week's question:

 "The MP3 player rundown "
-- Submitted by: MehStrongBadMeh

 "MP3 players... "
-- Submitted by: Watzman

 "MP3 purchase... "
-- Submitted by: forkboy

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 Thanks to all who contributed!