My first MP3 player, purchased back in 2006, was in in-car FM modulator that could play MP3 files from a USB drive. It introduced me to the luxury of listening to podcasts on my daily commute, a habit which I continue to this day. However, it did have the problem of not being able to save the position in the podcast where it was stopped. This lead me to chop my podcasts into commute-sized chunks, which I did for a few months.
In mid-2007 I moved on to a "real" MP3 player, an LG UP3#. With a colour OLED screen and the ability to remember track positioning this was a great leap forward. However, after daily use for three years its battery has decreased markedly, requiring weekly top-ups. This led me to my latest purchase, a Philips GoGear Mix 4GB, for under $50. It's a bit bigger than the LG, but has a larger, more informative, screen. Like the LG it has a retractable USB plug, meaning that it can be plugged directly into a USB socket without a cable.
The GoGear has one major flaw, forgetfulness. If turned off while playing then it will resume from where it left off. However, if turned off when paused it will only remember the track, but not where within the track it was. Worse, when it is plugged into a computer, for recharging of batteries or replenishment of podcasts, it completely forgets what it was doing previously. When you have over 100 podcasts, some up to 2 hours long, it is downright inconvenient to have to find your place again. The sluggish fast-forwarding and rewinding doesn't help, but they shouldn't be necessary.
I have been in contact with Philips about this oversight. After some discussion they agreed to take my request to their firmware team. Whether this results in any improvement remains to be seen, but I am optimistic. As they noted, I can return the GoGear within twelve months for a full refund, but I'll stick it out, because otherwise it is a quite satisfactory device.