Need advice on buying mp3 player

I need a new mp3 player. My current one, a five-year-old Sansa, has started skipping or not playing some songs for no discernible reason. I happened to win this one, and had to use a freeware app that someone had written in order to get it to work with my Mac (they weren't compatible).

I would dearly love to get an iPod Touch, but according to the specs on the Apple site, it wouldn't work with my Mac OS. It calls for OS 10.5.8 or higher. I'm stuck at OS 10.4.11 and can't upgrade any more because my iMac is too ancient. (And, alas, buying a new one isn't in the bank-account cards anytime soon.)

Is there any workaround that would allow me to use an iPod Touch? If not, any suggestions on an mp3 player that would work with my Mac?

Short of buying a used touch (2nd Gen at best), you are out of luck with getting a Touch.
The best option for you would be an iPod Classic, which will work with your current OS, and is a fine player, but it is just that.
If that's all you need you won't find much better.

Thanks. My Googling hadn't turned up a workaround, so I figured there wasn't one, but hope springs eternal.

Well there are a lot of MP3 players on the market.
Some more designed towards audiophiles which sound better than iPods, others that try to be like iPods, etc etc.

It all depends on how much storage you want, how much you want to spend, if you want an SD card slot, etc etc.

If I can't have wireless Internet access, like with a Touch, then basically all I want is something that will play my music in my iTunes playlists. I don't need a huge amount of storage. Cheap and reliable are always my main considerations. But I would like a screen on it so I can see what's playing (no Shuffle!).

Then I would reckon a Nano would be a fair bet, but also check out the latest Sony and Philips players, both are very good, and reasonably priced too.

My advice would be to buy a used iPod. They will likely be crazy cheap, 10.4 compatible and of course work great.

i would get the Classic.

Thanks to all for the input!