Congrats on the new gadget.  I actually got myself a new MP3 player today, though mine is much more a toy and not one that would be that useful over time.  The one I got is a puny little 128 MB (that isn't that many songs at all, no matter what format I would use) that is unfortunately non-expandable.

I saw a few nice Sansa models at the nearby (not that nearby, but within driving distance) Microcenter store: Sandisk Sansa player 

Passed on those though (even though they were fairly reasonably priced) as I already have an AM/FM/MP3/WMA player that I really like which is expandable if you plug in an SD card.  Pogo Radio Your Way LX.

Why'd I get the one that only has 128MB?  It was a special give away to Washington Nationals season ticket purchasers.

Call me a bit crazy, but I collect memorabilia (some, not that much) for my favorite team(s), and this seemed like a cool little trinket to add to my collection as long as I didn't have to pay too much to get it. If I had ordered my own tickets earlier, and paid for them earlier, then I'd have gotten one for free myself, but I was late to order and wound up just buying this one from another fan that had gotten it for free and wasn't inclined to keep it.

If it had just a little more memory, it'd be useful for me, but then I'd just be worried about losing it or damaging it and would hate that I no longer had a working toy

The POGO Radio on the other hand is my full duty MP3/WMA player since it receives AM and FM and is expandable. Slapping extra memory in it via the SD card slot is just too easy and I can cram a lot of songs on a 2GB card. The 2GB cards are cheap enough to grab a few of if I want to keep them full and just rotate through them (one for Rock and Roll, one for Country, etc.)

POGO Radio Your Way also has another big advantage for people so inclined -- they record AM or FM straight to an MP3 format and allow for schedule recordings. So, if you are a big talk radio fan, you can set the thing to record your favorite program and then timeshift it (TiVo/DVR style) so you can play it back at your own convenience. I had more use for that feature before finding I could download my favorite regular show via Podcast format, but since I can still easily move files over to the POGO via USB connection, I download the Podcasts, xfer over to the POGO and then walk around listening to my favorite show while blocking out the employees in the work place

Darn it, I also wanted to mention that I sympathize on the ear buds issue.  I swear finding a good set of earphones/headphones is a total p-i-t-a.  I picked up a set of headphones today that hang over the ears, on the collar.  Made by Phillips.  Fairly cheap at Microcenter, but not as cheap as the sale pairs that I was looking for.  They seemed to be sold out of the super cheap ones, and I'm probably better off for not getting them, but I loathe spending too much money on headphones/earphones when I know they break too easily and wind up not working as well or being as comfortable as I expected them to be.

So many different styles, and lots of choices, but most start at the $20 and up mark and just seem no better than the cheapest sets I find at Radio Shack or Wal*Mart.