my freinds and i recently had a convorsation about this i have a tape player my freind has a cd player and my other freind has a mini disc. we came to the conclusion that tape players are definately the best to ski with. 1 you can slam on it and wont break 2 customize music 3 its not to big. the only problem is you cant downlaod music. overall takin it back to 1995 with the walkman is where its at. later.