you mention that the screen is a bit small on the MP3 player... do you mention that because it makes it hard to pick the next song? Picking the song isn't a problem if you use play lists. You can set up most MP3 players to play a list of songs in whatever order you want, so you never have to physically "pick" the song

If you just want the backing tracks, and you can live with a static set list, then an MP3 player is a very low cost replacement for your CD player. You could easily have a backup MP3 player in your pocket.

If you are accustomed to hearing your backing trax played from CD, then you are used to hearing WAVs. I'm not sure if all MP3 players can also play WAVs, but if you compare a WAV and an MP3, and find that you prefer the WAV, then you'd obviously want to get a device that can play WAVs