MP3 temptations: Refurbished Zen for $30 (and two more)

You can have a modern-era mp3 player without breaking the bank, especially if you don't object to refurbished gear! For $30, you can get a refurbished 2gb Zen, sold by Creative Labs on Amazon. This has a 2.5-inch LCD screen, plays unprotected AAC files among others, and takes SD/SDHC memory cards (although not all playback features work on the SD/SDHC cards).

Without an SD/SDHC card slot but with a built-in speaker, for $32, you can get a refurbished 2gb Zen Mosaic with an 1.8-inch LCD, also sold by Creative Labs (the manufacturer) on Amazon. The order is fulfilled by Amazon so transaction-wise, it is like buying it from Amazon herself.

Better yet, with each of the above players you get $5 worth of MP3 music from the Amazon MP3 store.

And if you are a Sony fan and want lots of on-board flash memory, for $119 you can get the Sony Walkman S540 with 16gb of on-board memory. This is new-in-box, not refurbished.

Further Reading
+ Compare model features at Creative Labs
+ Reviews and more at AnythingButiPod.com (great resource for non-iPod mp3 players)