If a person can't afford a high end mp3 player they can go in for a cheap mp3 player which is much lower in price factor. But these players too offer most of the other features present in other mp3 players. Cheap mp3 players are likely to have a lesser memory and so the number of songs you can store will be very few only and you will have to keep changing the collection if you want to add more songs to it. Also the battery life might be for fewer hours, say about 5-10hrs, which is not bad but not great. Another drawback with the cheap mp3 players is sometimes they might be models that have gone obsolete and so are being sold at a low cost, but if they get into any trouble, or don't work, repair might be next to impossible.

The Cheap mp3 players are mostly available in the grey market, where products are bought without a bill or guarantee. What happens in this case is if the product doesn't function well, the customer has no way or getting it fixed or asking for a replacement. So it is better to buy electronic devices at reputed stores. However, if one was to buy a second hand mp3 player at a cheap price, he might get lucky. Some of them do actually work well, and were probably given away only because something new came into the market. Gone are the days when people used walkmans and cd players to listen to music. Today they would rather carry an mp3 player than be seen with the other devices. So, depending on their budget, they go looking for a device that suits their needs and is yet good quality.

These days since there are so many companies coming out with new models every month or year, the older ones are still around in the market but their prices dip. Also some websites sell the mp3 players at a discounted price and during holidays, one will find sales happening. These are ideal times to buy such products as they become more affordable then. It is safer to buy a good quality reliable brand mp3 player, instead of a cheap mp3 player, and you might end up spending more on repairs. The life of these players is a maximum of 3years, as beyond that it would become obsolete and no longer available in the market. And so the resale value will also come down and you will have to keep this and buy another newer device. For example, Apple has come up with the iPod Nano and Video; today the iPod mini is no longer in the market. Those who have a mini will have to change to latest models for more memory and features; else they can be happy with what they have till it stops working. Such is the world of cheap mp3 players; you can use it till it stops working and then think about buying another player.