Require a flash MP3 player

[wedge22]

I have plugged my Sennheiser's in to prove to her that its good and now she agree's

[DsW]

Decent earphones (i.e. sound isolating) can also mean that you don't need to have the volume up so loud, therefore prolonging battery life!

[TooNice]

I heard that the Shuffle actually have an Edge in terms of sound quality over the iPod (or was it the iPod Mini) for reasons that I've forgot. I remember that being said at head-fi.org at some point.

On a side note, I got a cheap Flash based USB MP3 player off ebay a while back (one guy sell tons of them, its kinda hard to miss). They sound fine off my Koss Porta Pro (great headphones btw, for its price), but my isolating canal phones (Westone UM2) would highlight LOTS of noises.

And on another note, I do prefer good open (non-isolating) headphones over closed one if it can be helped. Obviously on a train/plane, library etc. it is necessary to have an isolating phones, but i prefer open headphones otherwise.