Even if I'm definitely not an Apple fanI must admit that I like some of their MP3 players. They sound good, look good and work pretty fast but there's one thing that I hate about iPods: they're expensive and rely too much upon iTunes. This is why I believe there's a question that needs to be answered: "is there a true iPod alternative on stores?". 

I think I found quite a few cheaper and fully featured MP3 players that can challenge the iPod, even if those not so popular. This hub will try and to answer this question by listing a few MP3 players that sell well and offer a good value. 

Samsung P3 

Samsung P3 is all about style, has a very clean design, helped by the brushed aluminum external casing. Controlling the Samsung P4 is done possible via the all touchscreen interface, so that you don't miss any menu option you try and press. The P3 has a 3 inch 480 x 272 pixels screen, recorder and FM radio tuner , built-in speakers if you want to listen songs with your friends, Bluetooth. 

Microsoft Zune HD 

This is the third version of Zune, Microsoft's player which is getting better every time they launch a new one, and has plans to destroy Apple's iPod someday. If offers a huge 32 GB of internal flash memory, enough to keep 8000 songs, 48 hours of SD video or 10 hour of HD video. 

Cowon S9 

This is the newcomer, as Cowon is not a big name yet  in the audio, but after I've reviewed the S9 at work I'm sure they are very serious about their goals. The S9 is the only MP3 player that succeeds to gets close enough to Apple in terms of general design, all thanks to the flush 3.3 AMOLED touchscreen that's on the same level with the external casing.