How has the durability been of Sony for this use. I have bought 2 or 3 cheap Coby MP3 players and its always been the same with them. They last a couple months then they either won't power on with the switch anymore or one of the audio channels in the earphone jack goes out. Seems to be a common complaint when you read reviews of many different brand MP3 players. IE most seem to be throw away junk. Dusty rough environment seems to hasten their demise.

They seem to get dust behind the screen carried in my pocket also.

Thinking abut buying a Sony one but hard to spend what they are asking for them if it will be the same poor results.

I've heard the rice works good on phones that get wet but to not turn them on until they are all dried out. Can you heat the rice to make sure it is really dry maybe add some of those little desiccant bags around the unit that come with electronics ?