Since I own 2 iPods (the 2GB nano that came with my new Passat, and a 20GB I bought myself), I hope to dissuade him from a non-Apple music player purchase.

He wants something to use during his workouts, and he wants a radio tuner.  He’s put off by the cost Apple’s music player offerings.  I haven’t looked at the Apple Store website in awhile, so I completely missed the re-pricing of the iPod shuffle.  The 512MB one is just $69, while the 1GB is $99.  While this doesn’t solve his desire for a radio tuner, it should meet his price.

Looking around for competitors to the iPod shuffle, I came across Dell’s DJ Ditty. It’s small and light, and manages to integrate an FM tuner.  It’s $84, $15 more than the iPod shuffle of the same capacity (512MB).  You’d also have to use MusicMatch Jukebox instead of iTunes.

Searching through PC Magazine revealed another option: the Samsung Yepp YP-T5. It’s an old review, but this player includes a screen, an FM tuner, and voice recording for under $60.  The catch: it only has 256MB of space for music.  Samsung has similarly sized (i.e. larger) offerings to the iPod shuffle that cost around $100.  None of the ones I’ve seen offers more capacity than the 1GB shuffle, and some offer less capacity at a higher price.

I’ll keep hoping he goes with an iPod instead of something else.  So far I’m underwhelmed by the iPod’s competition.