From Komonews.com

By Good Housekeeping 

This report will be music to your ears, because we're talking about MP3 players.

The editors at Good Housekeeping came up with a neat idea. They decided to look at portable music players that are good for people who like to listen to music as they try to run or walk.

And guess what? They found you don't have to buy an iPod! The iPod Nano did very well in the Good Housekeeping Research Institute's tests, but now it has a lot of competition that cost a lot less.

Here are some inexpensive alternatives you may want to give a listen to.

"We evaluated 19, flash-based mp3 players for ease of use, performance, durability, as well as their appearance. In our tests, two MP3 players really stood out," said tester Rachel Rothman.

The Sandisk Sansa Clip, 1GB ($40) was one of the institute's budget picks.

"it was one of the few devices that performed extremely well after the durability testing. You can do voice recording, and it also has a handy clip in the back to clip on to you while you're working out," said Rothman.

Philips GoGear Spark, 2GB ($50) won over testers with its simple setup and easy functions.

"Well, I really liked that it was small, but not too small that I couldn't see the display clearly. And its also very easy to navigate," one tester said.

So if you like to walk and listen to music, Good Housekeeping says look for flash memory players. They don't use rotating hard disks, which can get damaged if they get jostled.

Testers also liked the iRiver Spinn for its cool features, including a touch screen and bluetooth. The 4-gigabyte model costs $170. They also gave a thumbs-up to the Microsoft Zune for its customization and full-color video. At 4 gigabytes, the Zune costs $100.

Read More In: My Sansa Sansa Clip / Clip + Music