I had some major problems with my last creative mp3 player. Ive now moved to an iPod. The hdd in my muvo2 died once, and I got the player replaced under warranty, I've still got my 2nd one - but its slow and dosn't like me using it for large files as a USB disk drive.
Just regarding quality - its not just the player that gives good quality, its the bit rate that u download/rip your music at and the quality of the headphones. While not terribly good for street use, my Sennheiser headphones will sound better than anything that you get standard with a player - you pay for the quality, like anything. I'm quite happy with my iPod headphones for when im walking arround, my Creative ones broke very easily - but I'd wear my Sennheiser ones on long trips when i wasnt walking any day.