The ugly truth about virtually all portable media players is that they are designed to have relatively short lives. Three years the cap for most devices before they start bugging out, but it often starts sooner. This is because the companies want you to go out and buy a new one every three years, naturally. Even if a player did last a long time, it would most likely eventually be made obsolete because of updates to supporting software.

There is no real way for me to test exactly how long a player will last, since that would involve using the player--everyday--for a year or so. And since I review almost every player on the market, and because companies only lend us the device (they don't give it to us), you begin to see the problem. I would take the comments on Amazon with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, it's easy to anonymously trash a competitor in those comments section, or at least rag on a company you don't like. And we know nothing of how these folks treated their supposedly destroyed players.

I can't say that I particularly think of the Sansa line of players as "sturdy"--but that doesn't mean they are junk. They certainly have decent firmware. Archos players are sturdy. iPods, if treated well, are also sturdy. But probably most of the issues people will have with players as they age are internal, firmware-related. As long as you treat the View well, I can't imagine that it will just die on you before a year is up. But if it does, that's what warranties are for...