An MP3 player is always a useful device to have while travelling. Long journeys can sometimes be boring and listening to music can assist in making the voyage more interesting. While many people automatically associate MP3 players with the Apple iPod, there are other brands around that are as good as Apple’s offering.

Truth to be told, the sale of MP3 players has declined greatly over the last few years. In my opinion there are three main reasons for this. First is the fact that Apple and some of its competitors have not released new MP3 player models for some time. Secondly is the fact that many people use their smartphones as MP3 players. Having a smartphone with Internet connectivity also allows one to stream music from the web, something that is not possible with lower end MP3 players.

Thirdly is the fact that the iPod and its main competing models are not cheap, especially the touch screen models. While touch screen MP3 players are certainly trendy, the models by Apple and competing manufacturers fall out of the price range reach of many consumers. As a matter of fact, the 64GB iPod Touch costs $299 in the USA and so does the Sony 64 GB Hi-Res Walkman Digital Music Player. Irrespective of the quality of the MP3 player and the display screen, I would not fork all that money for an MP3 player and I am sure that neither would many people out there.

So what are the alternative touch screen MP3 players on the market? At the moment there aren’t a wide range of such devices. Some cheap alternatives, like the 2.8″ Touch Screen 8GB 8G MP3 MP4 MP5 Music Media Player FM Radio Camera Black, do exist. However poor user reviews suggest that most of the cheap models and not really worth buying. As a matter of fact the above music and media player only obtained an average score of 2.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.co.uk (see the user reviews here).

Having said this, it does not mean that all cheap touch screen models are poor. One particular model that is worth checking out is the 4GB 800 x 480 4.3-inch Touch Screen MP4 Player with TF Card/E-book/FM/Calculator/Dictionary/Record/Calendar Function. This player costs under $30 on everbuying.com and dealsmachine.com and judging by the number of positive reviews for this item it seems that this is quite a good MP3 and MP4 player. At this price one cannot expect the latest in technology and features but on the other hand this player comes at a fraction of the cost of the offerings from Apple and Sony.

A better product is perhaps the Fengxiang T13 4.3 Inch Full Touch Screen 8GB MP5 Player FM Radio TV-OUT which costs just over $30, including free shipping to any destination. There aren’t a lot of user reviews for this MP3 and video player, however 5 positive users reviews on everbuying.com plus another 3 positive user reviews on gearbest.com at the time of writing is perhaps enough indication that this is a very good device for the price.