Could probably go in 3 other forums but hey, why not here...

I'm looking for a decent hard drive based (laptop drive) "hand held" MP3 player out there, that I can take out when I'm biking or to the gym. Can anyone recommend a good one with a decent featureset (eg, UI that doesnt suck), but is also pretty compact? Battery life, etc, isn't a huge deal as it wont be used for extended periods of time (rechargability is a must!)

Anyway, let me know if you guys know of anything good.

Thanks,

I'm very happy with my iPod, now that I have some MacOSX bugs worked out.

The Apple iPod matches your description exactly. Does that thing have Windows support yet? I lust for one.

Yup. http://www.mediafour.com/.

The iPod doesn't use a laptop HD. I think that was a big thing for him.

One of the better looking HD-based players is the new Rio Riot, IMO.

Bruno

Well, acording to this review the drive is actually smaller than the typical laptop drive. Unless you want to upgrade beyond 5GB, I think this is preferable.

Thanks for the link Bitt. I just ordered one.

Sucker.

Neo25

Thanks for the suggestions... the iPod looks really sleek (nice and tiny) and 5GB is about all I'd care about having with me at any given time.

I need to surf that mediafour site some more, as I do not own a Mac.

Also check out EphPod. I am probably going to attempt this program first. It looks surprisingly more complete than the MediaFour prog.

PS- I got mine via Airborne Express earlier today. Can't hook it up here at work due to lack of FireWire. Can't wait to get home.

Thanks for the link. I've yet to get a FireWire card for my Intel machine. You obviously already have one, but for anyone else who's reading, you should try to get a powered FireWire card if you're using it for the iPod so that it'll charge while you have it hooked up.

you should try to get a powered FireWire card

The only reason I have a firewire card is because I will buy anything on sale that I may need in the future. A couple months ago I got a cheesy D-Link card because it was ~$20 after rebate. This will be the first time using it at all. I sure hope it's powered.

If it's not, it's not a big deal. You just won't charge the iPod during syncs (you can do it with the power cord other times), and you'll be forced to manually put it into sync mode. Not a big deal.

EphPod works. And, it seems to work well. The only snag I ran into was my FireWire card. It seems cards using TI and VIA chipsets don't work properly with MacOpener in Windows XP. There is a TI chip on my el cheapo D-Link card. The iPod simply wouldn't show up in Explorer.

I went to CompUSA and got a Western Digital card that uses a NEC chip. Now everything works. I thought iPod was cool when playing with it at the store... but you have to own it and load your music on it to really appreciate it. Previously, I was using a TDK Mojo for sans-Empeg MP3 listening. There is no comparisson between the iPod and Mojo. iPod rocks ass.

I love my Archos. I used it to transfer some scanned pictures of a vacation onto my parent's computer this Christmas. And of course played music ont he airplane too.

It seemed flimsy at first, but now that I've had it for a while I'm not afraid of it anymore. My only problem is that batteries are only good for about 3 hours, but I haven't had a situation yet where I needed it longer than that at a time.

Here's their US site:http://www.archos.com/us/products/product_500096.html

The battery life of the iPod is one of my favorite features. Second only to the sound quality. I have yet to see it run out of juice. The specs claim 10 hours, and I believe it. And I haven't even ever plugged it into the wall.

> My only problem is that batteries are only good for about 3 hours,

3 hours? Archos says they last 8 hours. I gave one as a gift for Christmas, and while I haven't gotten a full report on how well it works, she used it for most of the 11 hour flight back to Europe I understand.

Cool thing about the Archos, it uses a laptop HD, and you can upgrade the drive if you don't mind voiding the warranty.

Regarding iPod max capacity, Toshiba has announced a few weeks ago 10GB and 20GB 1.8" drives. It's not clear, though, how they will be packing them, and what are Apples' plans.