Recommend me an inexpensive portable CD player

I've never tried hooking up my Panasonic SL-SX290 to external speakers, but it was only ~$30-40 at Costco, though the AC adapter wasn't included and is about $15. Doesn't play mp3 though. I've dropped it once, and nothing seems amiss.

I´ve got a cheapo Tozai discman, and it is grate. It does devour batteries like a hungry hippo, however. An adapter/charger would probably make a smart addendum.

Make sure you get an adapter for your speakers and your walkman (not just the the little plug adapter, you might need the bigger boxier one too). I know this because I had the same set-up when I was in Paris, and I ended up blowing my friend's mini-speakers, which sucked.

I personally have a Sony sports discman, which is pretty good, and pretty sturdy, though a little more expensive. Only problem with it as far as your needs go is that it only has a headphone out, which will work with them little speakers, but you'll have to put up with a lot of beeping. I suggest you look for one that also has a line-out socket.

and can you recommend me one that plays mp3 cds and dimond cds.

I like my Sony--model D-EJ622. Think I paid about $50 for it at Best Buy. Only think bad about it is the color: lime green. wtf?

I just bought mine yesterday, and love it. I don't know how it compares to other things: the one I replaced predates MP3.

But for $55, I got a Memorex MPD8846. Plays CDs, of course, has radio (seems decent), sturdy construction, nice digital LED menu thing for everything, and best of all as far as I was concerned, it plays MP3 CDs. With MP3s, there is a little pause every time one starts, as it loads the buffer, decodes it, whatever it's doing (it says it's loading the buffer, but it takes longer than with CDs, so ... I dunno). Has line-out, medium-sized buttons, bass boost, and you can preset radio stations and program a playlist (I don't see a "repeat" button, but that may be in the program menu).

About that Memorex ... it eats batteries fast. I've had to buy new batteries every day I've used it. Granted, when I'm on campus I listen to it for four or five hours, but even so. And once the "low battery" warning comes on, you've got maybe two songs left you can listen to.

The Sony whatnot I have is really battery-friendly; I listen to it almost every day and it's usually weeks between replacements. Though Tep's sounds somewhat unique in its radio abilities.

Amateurist, the one thing you MUST bring with you is a small, cheap shortwave radio. You can listen to stuff from all over Europe--and the BBC in particular is nice to have around when you're in a non-English country.

how much do those cost? do they have cd player/shortwave combos?

I got an AM/FM radio for $10 at Fry's.

AM/FM won't do it, and I've never seen a cd-player/shortwave combo, though that would be totally wicked. I think they can be super-cheap or super-expensive; your best bet would be to find one in a junk shop or old radio store (or pawn shop or wherever) for under $10. There seems to be cheapos floating around all the time; there's probably no point in shelling out any real cash for one.