Thanks for the replies so far guys.... here's what's happening now :
When I connect the player to the PC I get the normal noise that windows has detected something being plugged in but it doesn't show as an external drive and I cant tell if it's showing as anything at all ! The player itself is now sitting in what I think is a permanent state of booting up. The display shows the word '' starting... '' and that's all. I cant turn it off and when I remove the battery and re-insert it all I get is the same display. Do you think it needs formatting ?
I bought the thing from eBay and it was a cheapy at £30 for a 512MB player. It came from Hong Kong so not much chance of anything in the way of customer service. If it's knackered then it's no big deal but I'd like to get it going if possible