- A DECENT look and shape (not looking like it was made for the average trendwhore. plus: no using thumbs on a wheel to navigate through menus).
Size does not really matter, as long as it doesn't have the size of a bedroom stereoset. I mean, who cares if your mp3 player can fit in your jeans pocket?
- At least 10 gigabytes of space to a maximum of 60 gigabytes. No one uses more than 60 gigabytes of music, really. Anyone who says he does just listens to 3 tracks on each album he owns. Also, anything bigger than 60 gig is likely to consume so much battery power it will suck the life out of it upon booting. Coming to ->
- LONG BATTERY LIFE. No sucky iPod battery that runs out after 45 minutes of use. If it takes 3-4 hours to fully charge my mp3 player, but will function properly being used by the average skipper (looking through your albums should not be a problem), then I'm willing to sacrifice a couple of hours. I mean, it's not like it bothers you while you are sleeping. I'm going for a built in battery rather than loose AA ones, because those cost more money and chargable ones cost the money and effort of buying a charger, etcetera.
- NO extra software. If so, easy-to-use software with no bullshit functions. Just simple uploading of mp3s to a portable disk, that's it. This also adds the function to use FTP programs or advanced explorers like Total Commander. For the uber lazy, you can connect the mp3 player to one pc and FTP music to it from another pc without having to bother connecting it to that pc. Easy to use.
- Ability to customize. It should come with an OS that people can easily program for. Things like custom backgrounds, skins, and layouts allow end users to fully personalize their player the way they want.
- Built in presets.
- Decent earphones that come with the player. Ones that give good sound and fit in any normal ear. Even wireless earphones support. Nothing is cooler than wireless earphones. It also should be able for people to 'tune in' to the players of other users of this player using their wireless earphones. This way, multiple people can enjoy the same music without having to share the same set of earphones, which usually limits down to two people sitting crampy next to eachother. Also, if you're wondering what the person in the train who owns the same player is listening to, now it is possible to actually do so. Each player ofcourse has it's own frequency, but since you probably don't know the other person's frequency and manual searching will take ages, there should be an ability for you to 'scan' frequencies in a decent radius. This ofcourse requires a wireless connection, which brings us to ->
- The ability to share music wirelessly. It would be great that when a person has a song you want on your player but don't have, you can easily transfer it from the one to the other by using a wireless solution (like bluetooth). I know it isn't the fastest, but it's possible to put files on your mobile phone using blue tooth, so this should be possible too, right? Ofcourse, the ethical question of 'legal firesharing' comes in mind, but this ofcourse always depends on the people using it.
- Last but not least: A decent price. No 400 dollar player that could easily be sold for 250, but is way more expensive because it is hyped so much and everyone is buying it because they saw it on tv (and the producer has to pay for all the promotion). No hype around this machine; it might be the best mp3 player ever, but that doesn't mean buying it will make you more ' cool' or whatever.