It might just be the headphones. I know with mine I've got to have the gold-plated jacks as the silver plated ones are just that little bit too short.

Looking at the Sony MP3 players, they all seem to be great for battery life. Mine was around 30 hours when I got it, and it is still 30 hours 2 years later. The newer ones are about the same, I think. Though the new software that comes with (Connect) is the worst piece of music software I've ever seen. Thank God SonicStage works.