The hold button? What do you mean?
I have a Philips SA 2980 GoGear 8 GB but much more often I use the integrated in my mobile phone one. Because, mobile is alway with me and I don’t need to drag along another divice. Besides, it has an useful funktion- repeating of any desired piece of a podcast. It’s good for learning.
Before LingQ I hadn’t had any such toys, now I too have a Philips SA 2980 with which I am very content, a present from Germany. (In between I had three little MP3 players with 2GB, they were brilliant, you could record on them and they were very cheap. Unfortunately, my clumsiness, coupled with forgetfulness and a granddaughter who loves waterplay put paid to them all.)
I use an ergo zen 4gb (local brand), cost around 35usd and does everything I need, battery life is awesome as well.
To Blindside, just a friendly discussion…What have you used other than an ipod… I have had ipod classic, ipod mini, ipod touch and iphone 3g. They are very good but not the best. Apple likes to lock down their devices, and force you to use itunes (which I hate) . The iphone/touch is an amazing piece of hardware and software, but the best mp3 player I’ve ever owned (and I’ve owned many, including the first one ever made, the rio) was made by a company called cowon audio. This player would play any sound file I could throw at it mp3, wav, rm, wma etc and the sound quality was/is AMAZING, blows apple out of the water.
I have a Creative Zen mosaic which has the nice advantage that you can use it by feel. I listen to LingQ stuff a lot in the night, in bed, without my glasses on 
Mine has 2 Gig, I think they go up to 16 Gig. 2 Gig is enough for a week’s worth of listening which is enough for me.
Watch out for the players that “clip” a little bit off the end of each mp3 file. It’s really annoying!
I use an iPhone 3G; I also listen over my AppleTV, and on my Macs at home and at work (yeah, lots of Apple, but I’m not a blind fanboi). I would second the opinion of checking out Cowon’s players: excellent sound, interface not quite as polished, but definitely workable. Cowon also has an active online support forum. Not the cheapest players, but worth the money. Again, many models play a wonderful array of formats, and the sound quality is excellent (I like the sound of the iPhone/iPods, but Cowon is better to my ears).
With a MacBook Pro, of course, using iTunes, etc., your experience would be seamless, but still may not be the best fit for you personally. LingQ was wise to use the MP3 format, since it guarantees you the broadest possible number of choices.
And don’t forget to look into the new smartphones, if you’re at all leaning in that direction.
Ciao,
Marco
Where can I buy Rio?
How do I report an obvious spammer on lingQ?
Best MP3 player to I used is Sony NWE395/B Walkman MP3 player with 16GB. But it can’t allow me to import and play audiobooks and podcasts from iTunes, I search on Google, it seems due to DRM protection and I need to remove this lock using some Audiobook Converter to convert audiobook files to MP3 player compatible format from AudFree https://www.audfree.com. Is that right? I need to change the MP3 player to others?