my next trip is a short one (2 1/2 weeks in brazil) and i really didn't want to bring my ipod (don't want it to get stolen or ruined) but thought i'd like some music at certain points...and i just got a new mobile yesterday (apparently, talking on the phone while you're in a bathtub is NOT a good idea, who would know?! ) and it's enabled to listen to music. i have to buy a $30 card (via verizon) but then i can download and listen to mp3s. how cool! anyway, in case other people don't know about it, i thought i'd mention it.

The only caveat here is to make sure your mobile phone has a "flight mode" whereby the cell radio is turned off but will still operate the digital music player. I have a W810i that works in this way and it's great. I just ordered a 2GB memory card for it so I can store plenty of music on it.

... and yes, electronics tend to not like water much.

I'm interested to know what your experience turns out to be once you've used it for a while.

Mine can do this, but I haven't even thought about using it as a player. Partly because of the battery life I guess - I need my phone more than my music and I'm pretty bad at charging things on a routine basis.

Battery life would depend on the particular phone model. Mine does quite well. I've used it as a digital music player for 1-2 hours at a time and the battery level only goes down maybe 5-10%.