Portable media player

[mubs]

I was gifted a 5th generation 60 or 80 GB Video Ipod Classic in 2006. It stayed in the box till a couple of weeks ago, when I had to "set it up" at my daughter's insistence (she's 13). She's using it now.

I played with it a bit and was rather taken with the ability to put video clips on it that can be viewed anywhere/anytime.

I'd like to have my own video player to fill with clips of my favorite music videos etc. that I can view when I travel. What is the best alternative to the iPod out there? Obviously, the screen and storage space would be quite important.

I tried this with my Nokia E71 smartphone and was rather shocked to find that it struggles to play videos; it skips, drags and jumps. What crap. Would have been nice to have a single device that could do it all. It's good in all other respects and was expensive to buy, so please, am not looking to replace the smartphone.

Thanks.

[Mercutio]

Cowon S9 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855228034)

[Pradeep]

The ipod classics are hard drive based, is 16 or 32 gb of capacity enough for you? Sony x series at $300 and $400 are also in the category of the Cowon.

[Howell]

The Archos products have always looked very impressive though I've not used the new ones that do video.

[mubs]

Thanks Merc, Pratap and Howell.

The Cowon that Merc suggests is certainly imprssive; perhaps even overkill from a display quality perspective. It's still a pretty impressive unit. The limited storage (32GB flash) is certainy a concern. Oddly, they have a pretty good sales / service network in India. Even more oddly, I'd never heard of them till Merc suggested the brand.

Sony too is pretty strong in India, so I'll check out the x Series.

I may have troube sourcing the Archos. Some of their video products get pretty bad reviews as well.

Though this thread has been viewed many times, the audio/video specialist regulars haven't responded. Guys, I'd like your opinion as well!

[Stereodude]

Can't help you with this one. I don't use my mp3 player to watch videos. Reportedly the Samsung P3 is also good.

[Mercutio]

I've been considering a Cowon player based on three things:

1. Flac/Ogg support
2. Battery life is reportedly exceptional, as is audio quality.
3. That display.

I'd really like to see another product refresh to get to 64GB before I bought one, if only because the "standard" music folder I carry around on my notebooks is 48GB and that's the music I think of as essential.

[ddrueding]

The Audi takes SD cards full of MP3s directly, but the limitations on file count/size/folder depth sucks. In order to guarantee that it will accept the card, I'm keeping it under 400 songs/card. It likes it better when the filenames conform to 8.3, but it will read any ID3 tag. I'm using 2GB cards formatted as FAT32. I'm tempted to get an iPod just to use in the dock and have better selection.

[mubs]

I wish the Cowon S9 took some kind of flash card.

The Cowon A3 is supposed to be pretty darn good too, except for somewhat quirky controls. Models with HDD capacities of 30, 60, 80 GB.

Pradeep's Sony X series looks like it's so new it's not available to buy in the U.S. yet, though it is listed on Sony's U.S. website. Not even listed on their India website.

The Archos 605 WiFi appears to suffer from poor audio quality.

[Pradeep]

Mubs, I would recommend the x series if audio quality is a high priority. And it is a very new release as you .

If video is a priority, then the PSP-3000 with it's 4.2" screen is hard to beat. But you need a bigger pocket than for S9 etc, and mem stick max is 16 GB, with 8s being cheaper. Still, a pair of 8s gives you flexibility. Plus you get to play some sweet games.