IFP590 sync and reasons to hate wmp

[Chorlton Banks]

I've recently updated the firmware for my IFP590 (had stopped looking for updates a few years ago) and it is now seen as a device in WMP10. I've read these forums for a while to get some ideas for a new flash player and had come across a lot of hostility to wmp. So far I've found that if I add things to a sync list then as soon as I close wmp and reopen it, the list is gone. I was hoping to slowly add tunes to it (the list) through the week while listening to albums and sync it at the start of the week. I tried to save the list but then found it difficult to add tracks to it when I retrieved it. My main gripe is that it doesn't seem to want to sync the tracks on my Lacie external hard drive. This is a big problem as most of my music is on this. I'm not sure I'd be too bothered about using the sync function if my player used USB 2 rather than USB 1, as I see I can change it to UMS. Tranferring individual tracks with USB 1 is doing my head in. I may have to resort to copying files into a folder on my hard drive throughout the week and then copy them across in one go. Does this cover the problems with WMP or is there worse to come?

The reasons I want a new flash player is because of the transfer speed and 256Mb is too small. (I have a H120 but would like a smaller (1 Gb) player as well). I tried a T10 but my PC couldn't identify it and it didn't show up in windows or as device in WMP. I tried all the fixes recommended here but had no luck. Luckily amazon had incorrectly credited it with FM so I could exchange it for a refund without any problems. This leaves me unsure what to get. I think I want to avoid players working solely with WMP but can't seem to find one with good enough battery life (whether rechargeable or not) combined with good quality. Have considered iAudio G3 & U3, datasafe Oomi 2Gb (AMP3 pebble) & iRiver T30 & T20 1 Gb models but am tying myself up in circles trying to decide.

Sorry to waffle on off topic......it was supposed to be mainly about WMP but kinda drifted