I like the Sansa Fuze because I can use it without looking. In fact, for most functions I can use it THROUGH my clothes by feel. Also it's completely unrestricted in what it will take and what software it will work with, and it's cheap (Woot has sold 4G versions as low as $23). Also, I've gotten several Sansa players wet, the Fuze in fact I dropped in a bowl of water, and after drying out they all worked fine.

The Fuze is also hands down the best audiobook player I've ever seen. It treats audiobooks differently than other media types, and the treatment is customized specifically for audiobook playback, with an eye towards keeping your place in the book, and managing bookmarks. And Sansa actively works with their users on their forums, and if a feature is requested, it's very likely to make it into a firmware update, and they publish firmware updates fairly often and announces them quickly and publicly.

Whenever I deal with someone who has an Apple product, we spend a TON of time trying to break their media out of the lockdown that Apple has imposed on them. When I deal with someone who has any other product, we just do what we like and it's done. It seems like Apple spends all their time telling you what you're allowed to do and how you are expected to do it. Sansa spends its time helping its users to do what they want to do.