about 20 minutes later , it shuts off inexplicably and tries to tell me that the battery is empty
How is the battery?
I struggled giving this a 3 star review, because the low price should be a factor int he score.  But is the MP3 player decent or not?  The price really shouldn't matter or decide whether it's good or bad.  And the truth it, it's both.For one, the Rhapsody software it want you to use is junk.  Get rid of it because it doesn't do what it's supposed to and it's clunky, crappy, outdated software.  The way to sync media with this device is with Windows Media Player.  It works best and is the program that makes the most sense.Now to the device.  For one, the buttons are spotty on mine.  Occasionally, the pause button just decides to not work, so I essentially have to shut the thing off at that point.  Which isn't a big deal if you're just listening to songs.  But if you listen to audiobooks or radio shows you've recorded or podcasts, it doesn't ALWAYS save your location on the file.  It usually does, but again, it's spotty and occasionally the device just decides to not save where it was in the file.Another major problem I've had is the battery life.  I'll turn on my device to see it with 50% power.  Then, about 20 minutes later, it shuts off inexplicably and tries to tell me that the battery is empty.  Great.Now this thing is light and I like that.  It clips very comfortably on to your clothes and the clip is sturdy.  So that's one in the plus column.  It's inexpensive but at no point using this device have I forgotten that.  It feels cheap through and through.  And really... it's not all THAT cheap.Otherwise, it does what it's supposed to do.  It plays music files.  You can create custom playlists in WMP or whichever syncing software you choose and it's cool.  Navigating through menus is pretty straight forward.  The sound is decent.Everything about this MP3 player is average at best.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  If you're looking for a solid MP3 player that's light and relatively inexpensive, I personally think you'll be fien here.  It's great for working out and things like that.  I paid nearly $60 for mine and for that price, it does it's job.  Nothing more though.  It doesn't impress me or leave me blown away.  It just does what I paid it to do. 