Well I decided to go for the Panasonic CT710 MP3/CD Player. It came to $95 CAD and I am happy with my buy. MP3 players harddrive based or flash based still have some flaws, whether it be crap battery life, early hdd failure, small space, weak audio output or crap sound quality.
CD/MP3 players are reaching their peaks and are literally flawless except for non continuous mp3 playback (i hate pauses between songs!) The Panasonic 710 is very slim, comes with 2 gumstick rechargables and a nice lcd remote. More than enough for my needs. Might be to big for some (cds are 13cm) but for my uses its perfect, and I have unlimited space.