[monkeys are evil]

hi, i've read a lot about firmware and about upgrading and downloading and repairing etc but i've never had an mp3 player until a few weeks ago and i a bit overwhelmed by a lot of what is on this site.

questions are, do i need to update it for any reason and is there any benefit in doing so. under what circumstances could my player become corrupt or dead. and is there any risk at downloading any files from online to the player.

thanks for any input and if there's anything else i should know please feel free to suggest it.