Portable Player Noob Right Here; Need Some Help

Well I'm not very well quainted when it comes to the portable source market. Of course I know of the Apple line up and a little bit of searching I saw the Sansa Clips pop up quite a bit. Upon looking further into the (really cheap) Sansa Clips people noted how the SQ wasn't up to par even with the Apple Nano line up. So the iPods and the Sansa Clips are as much as I really know, again, I don't really invest any money into portable gear but I've got some Christmas money and I think I should finally invest into a good portable player.

Here's my criteria:

-Small, iPod Nano size just for reference. I'm going to be carrying this in my pocket all day when I'm not at home. I don't want this bigger than an iPod Classic.

-My budget is around $200-240, if there are good players below that range thats completely fine.

-16gb or more memory. If there's an Micro SD Card slot that would work as well.

-Of course good SQ.

Thanks to anybody that posts.

I was checking out multiple reviews and specs of the J3 and I really like it a lot. The design looks spectacular and I like how thin it is. However, it seems like it comes with a lot of junk that I won't ever use. It seems more of a multi media device more than anything and the giant screen supports that statement. Point being, I'm paying more for an item where I'm only going to be utilizing a quarter of it's utility. Honestly it seems like a nicer looking app-less iTouch.

Secondly, size is one of the biggest things for me. I don't want anything bigger than the palm of my hand.

That being said, looking at other products by Cowon that fit to my price range, I really like the D2/Plus. $150 and 4gbs will do fine. I can shell another $50 on a 32gb SD card and I should be good. Only question is to any D2 owners looking at this thread: what's the difference between the D2 and the D2+? Also does the SQ degrade since it's a "lower" tier of the Cowon line up (in relation to let's say the J3).