Creative Zen isn't known for having the best firmware. Their players are a nice alternative from iPods, but in my experience I'd say that you should get something a little more reliable that won't become a shiny paperweight.
Are you looking for a flash based or hard drive player? If you're looking for at least 20gb of memory, hard drive would be more cost-efficient. Of course, there are few players that range between 16 and 32gb, so you'd probably have to choose between those two. If you're an audiophile, you would probably want EQ settings to customise the playback. In this case, I'd stay away from the third gen Zunes, because they don't have that option (at least for the flash based players.. I'm not quite sure about the HD ones)
I'm in the market for another mp3 player as well, since my old Zen is a bit too bulky to say, exercise with. The best advice I could give you for looking for new electronics is to do a lot of research. Since I'm personally super picky about what I buy, I do a ton of research. You can use sites like http://www.cnet.com to read reviews. They're pretty unbiased, since their job is basically to write reviews on electronics. I'm not sure of how detailed they would be about the playlist function that you're looking for, though. It sounds like the main thing you're looking for is the option to make a playlist and shuffle the playlist. Zens and Sony Walkmans can do that, I think.
Some of the players that have pretty good reviews are the Cowon D2 and iAudio 7, Sony Walkman A series (comes in 16gb at the highest, I think), and Zunes.
Are you looking for a flash based or hard drive player? If you're looking for at least 20gb of memory, hard drive would be more cost-efficient. Of course, there are few players that range between 16 and 32gb, so you'd probably have to choose between those two. If you're an audiophile, you would probably want EQ settings to customise the playback. In this case, I'd stay away from the third gen Zunes, because they don't have that option (at least for the flash based players.. I'm not quite sure about the HD ones)
I'm in the market for another mp3 player as well, since my old Zen is a bit too bulky to say, exercise with. The best advice I could give you for looking for new electronics is to do a lot of research. Since I'm personally super picky about what I buy, I do a ton of research. You can use sites like http://www.cnet.com to read reviews. They're pretty unbiased, since their job is basically to write reviews on electronics. I'm not sure of how detailed they would be about the playlist function that you're looking for, though. It sounds like the main thing you're looking for is the option to make a playlist and shuffle the playlist. Zens and Sony Walkmans can do that, I think.
Some of the players that have pretty good reviews are the Cowon D2 and iAudio 7, Sony Walkman A series (comes in 16gb at the highest, I think), and Zunes.