The Rio Volt SP250 I bought for my sister Dec-2001 broke down this past week. I bought it at Best Buy with the replacement plan, and they are willing to replace it with a new product. The problem is that doing a quick scan of their selection, nothing comes close to the SP250. Feature wise, this is why I bought it for her, and why she enjoyed it so much:

1. Rechargable batteries that were recharged via the players normal AC cord. No seperate charger, and no need for rotating a set of batteries.

2. Big readable display that shows ID3 tag info and generally made playing sons easy.

3. FM Stereo built in

Anyone know of a similar unit still for sale that I can have Best Buy exchange it? I am assuming any manufacturer warranty via SonicBlue is now null and void.

I hate to suggest Rio competitors on this board, but have you looked at the latest "SlimX" model from iRiver?

http://www.iriver.com/product/info.asp?p_name=iMP-550

It's got rechargeable NiMH "stick" batteries, but also some kind of external battery pack that accepts regular AA. If the former works like you described the SP250 did, then it seems like the best of both power options....

I think Best Buy might carry that model, I'll look into it this weekend, so I can get a working MP3 CD player back to my sister.

Thanks for the info on this. I wonder why the SP250 was discontinued.