so i'm going to buy an mp3 player

[geekbot]

All music players play non-DRMed music like mp3s. All music players play DRMed music (either Apple's FairPlay or Windows WMA DRM). There's not really any viable exceptions for an absolutely non-DRMed player.

iPods play any mp3 ripped from CDs or any mp3 downloaded from somewhere. If you want to buy music from the iTunes store, a good percentage will be DRM-locked....but you certainly don't have to buy it, and most people don't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_portable_media_players#Audio_Formats

You're severely limited if you *must have* a player that doesn't do anything proprietary.

Creative ZEN supports DRM just like all the others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_ZEN

[Kolar]

DRM is nearly dead anyways for music. I just don't like being forced into using crappy software to work with a device. I also like the fact that I can move my music and video files around easily using my Zen. On an iPod you have to format and start over to access it and even power the device when switching computers. The ZEN software is proprietary but at least it's user friendly and doesn't force you to do something in the name of copy-right protection.

I'm not ABM or Anti-Apple, I've used both of their mp3 player products and think they suck. I've only had good experiences with Creative for media players. If it works for you then that's all that matters.