Good luck, I had the 2 GB version lasted 6 months, sent back to Sansa got a new one and it lasted 8 months. Contaced Sansa and they said after 1 year from original purchase they dont accept and dont repair.

They really are throw-away electronics. Great gift for your kids or neices/nephews (especially since it's only 1 GB) but don't think that you are getting a piece of cutting-edge electronics here...especially a refurb sold by buy.com!

First one I bought from 'egg was defective, fortunately 'egg accepts returns on the refurbs unlike Buy.com who has you send it out to a 3rd party for RMA replacement instead of refund like at 'egg, which takes longer.

Next 1GB refurb bought from woot works fine after 1 year, I would gladly pay $15 per year for such a nice small size and great sound quality, plus the standard USB charging socket instead of something proprietary is better since I'm not into the whole dock my player with my kitchen sink and nintendo scene.

These are better than an ipod. Cheap is good, who needs a $200 MP3 player which will need a battery replacement in 3 years unless you bust it somehow?

These are cutting edge electronics. Great runtime, great sound, great feature set, all crammed into a tiny case that is dirt cheap too. That's what tech is supposed to do for us, not provide a means to pay for Steve Job's kid's shoes.

i got a refurb 250 model, not this one, lasted a few months then the battery died on me. couldn't charge anymore. these refurbs are hit and miss.

Not even, people. Go to your local Walmart (if you're not politically opposed to it) and check if they have the 8GB for $50. That's for you. Otherwise, you shouldn't be buying refurbs as throwaway gifts for other people, no matter how cheap. If you're going to spend $15 at least buy something that works. OK, on second thought, if you can get the 16GB refurb View for $50, that'll work.

BTW, the 8GB does not show up online. You have to check your local store. Mine has 20 of them. If you can't find one, send me the money and I'll grab one for you.

#2 @ #3 -- Very much beneficial responses'.
As to the durability I had one of the boys' go through the wash and found clacking in the dryer. It would not power on but did power-up link and showed batt charging when connected to the USB, although still did power on its' own. After several days I figured it was a goner and the boy had to ante up for another. A couple of month later I ran across it in the back of a drawer and when I tried to power it up it came back and was showing like two bars for the battery. Charged it back-up and now I have it for me when I run the dog.

Like I always say, "Electronics are the one thing that are not better the second time around".

I don't understand why so many are refurbs anyway. make it right the first time.

#8 -- At this point I'd say these are more Reworks. Creative figured out there where containers full of product that had a potential defect and sent them back to China. As workers popped open the cases they could be scratch or not the tightest snap going back together, better to sell them with that caveat. Creative probably got them basically for free due to contractual agreement with the actual supplier screwing up.
Each is a gamble, in that you might have to send a dead one back for a trade, but what the heck, still a fine little player for the price. My boy like having the radio feature and will record something they like then say can I get a download of this.

#9, these are made by SanDisk, not Creative.

I got two Sansas. Both new. One, 2GB m250, had a minor problem within a month. I reset it, and it has run well for over two years. The other one, a 2GB clip, couldn't communicate with my PC within a week. It's pretty much hit and miss, even with new ones.

I'm pretty surprised to hear about all the Clip problems here. I've had a 4GB for almost a year, and its only problem seems to be (a very common) loose headphone jack. I lurked on the Sansa owners forum for several months, and swear the Clip owners are the happiest people I've ever seen. I wonder why more owners with problems haven't shown up there? The View owners, on the other hand, are a whole different breed...

These are great, I had purchased them before from woot, refurbishedand so far no problem, The sound quality on these is excellent. And can't bit the price even if it last a year. Anyway most people upgrade MP3s just about that often, so why over pay.

We've got a 4GB Clip, a 4GB Fuze and two 8GB E280s in our family and haven't had problems with any of them since they were purchased (between 2 years and 6 months ago). Great little players, all of them.