I bought this item in May of '04 and it worked perfectly...for ninety days. I tried my very best to take care of this expensive piece of equipment and the headphone jack STILL went out on me. You're lucky if you purchase this and don't have a problem with it. Sure, in my opinion its the best MP3 player out there- that is, when it works. Luckily, I bought a 2 year protection plan on it and I'll get my money back. There's just no reason to take yhour chances on whether you'll buy one that has a faulty headphone jack- you're better off going with the more expensive Ipod, or maybe even the new Sony Network Walkman.