Well, I had always wanted an iPod but just could not see forking over $300 for their 20 Gig model. The iPod mini was a possibility, but I didn't want only 5 GB of storage space because my entire MP3 collection is about 15GB and if I get one of these devices I want my entire collection on it.

Dell just came out with its new 20 GB, second generation Dell DJ 20 model for $279, but now on Dell.com you can get it for $199 after an $80 instant rebate.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/dj?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

I checked into ordering one, but they said the "Preliminary Ship Date" was 11/10/2004 and that is no good since I want it for my trip to Germany as well. I ended up going to Ebay.com and won one at auction for about $208 including shipping so that is not too bad. It is on its way now.

I also got the Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter so I can pipe the MP3’s through FM radio stations in my car while I'm driving. I can also listen to my Pimsleur now!

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=&Section_Id=2062&pcount=&Product_Id=166893

It is sold out at Belkin.com for $39.99, but Buy.com had it for $24.95. Best Buy lists it at $49.99 and CompUSA lists it at $59.99.

Pretty cool stuff. The new DJ will also save hard drive space on my laptop when I travel. Now I can load up my laptop with mpeg music videos instead to give me something to watch on the airplane ride to and from destinations. I use to have my entire mp3 collection and some music videos on the laptop.

Some external speakers with the Dell DJ along with custom playlists and I'll have the perfect "mood" music for the ladies when I return to Brazil and Argentina. It is not quite as lightweight as the iPod and does not allow for the uploading of music which kind of sucks, but it does have a voice recorder so I can now take notes on that instead of the RCA personal digital voice recorder I use to use.

www.archos.com

They have some VERY interesting products. I too got a 20gb HD/MP3 player from them a while back and LOVE it. One nice bonus is it has a port for downloading files from Compact Flash media. This means I can take the MP3 player with me to "unsavory" places instead of my laptop and still backup all my pics.

E

Thanks for the tip Epi.

I hated my Dell DJ. It was huge and I didn't like the fact you can't upload files once you put them on the device. I sold it on Ebay after about a day of playing with it.

I purchased an Archos XS200 which JUST came out. It arrived today. It is way cool. 4.3 ounces with a 20 GB hard drive and it is smaller than the iPod mini which only stores 5 GB. It also works just like an external USB hard drive so I can upload and download files at will. The price is right as well at $249. The compact flash option was removed from this model, but that isn’t something I would use.

It is not compatible with iTunes, Musicmatch or any other online stores, but I could care less about that. Whenever I do occasionally purchase music from the online stores, the first thing I do is burn the music to CD and then rip them off as an unencrypted mp3s so I can use them when and how I please.

I hate the bullshit AAC format and other encrypted formats of the online music stores. I actually delete the proprietary encrypted music files after I've burned them and then ripped them off CD's as mp3s.

Xen

I'm glad that worked out for you!! I've been eyeing that AV420 as it would be nice to have a "portable tivo", but that's a big chunk of change for "convenience". I think I'll stick wth my ol' Gmini 120. It ain't pretty, but it's a decent little player and I use CF cards so it's a dream for travelling.

E

I was actually was super pissed right after opening it. I loaded about 3000 songs and then started playing them. The freaking unit kept turning off automatically after playing only one or two songs.

I fired off a call to tech support and they said it was a power setting for auto turnoff. I said I read the manual and the manual said the unit WOULD NEVER turn off during playback. Clueless tech support insisted changing the setting would work.

It didn't and the unit kept turning off after playing one or two songs. Then I went out to the Archos website. They had a firmware update that supposedly addressed the issue. I downloaded and installed it. Problem solved. Now I am happy. I guess I can give clueless tech support guy a pass. The unit is brand new and he didn't know it had even been released yet.