I am now on my second Zen - ready to return it also. After bringing the first one home, I ripped my entire collection (~10GB) of music onto the player. I then put the carrying case on it, plugged in the headphones and took it with me everywhere I went. In my car, I would use the car adaptor. After 2 days, the headphone connector went bad. Music would play out of one speaker (mono), instead of producing a nice stereo sound. I then realized the carrying case did not fit the player very well and it put a lot of stress on the headphone jack. I exchanged this for a new Zen. I did not use the carrying case with my second Zen. Again, after two days, the headphone connector jack went bad. I am returning this one for an iPod, since Apple uses quality parts. I really do like the ease of use and the "one-hand" design, though. I would just like to use it for what it is intended - listening to music. This really isn't possible when partial sound is produced.