[poddie]

Many thanks to both Lattesurf and Tadad1 for their helpful suggestions. So far, the continuous playtime hasn't been great. From the 1st 80% charge, i was only able to get about 2 hrs playtime on it. The most recent charge at 50% gave me approx. 1 hr playtime. I understand that the battery meter probably isn't the most accurate but at the moment, I suspect it could be a problem with the cable that connects the player to the AC adaptor as the green light doesn't come on when I connect the both. I tried fiddling with the cable just now and a faint green light appeared. My player probably has past the date of exchange, so if the latter doesn't work, I'll give the firmware trick a try.

Just to double check, what are the power saving modes? And secondly, is there a way to darken the screen when mp3s are being played (ie. put screen in power saving mode during playback)

Thanks again for all your help