A lot of fuss has been made about the iPod even to the extent they were unavailable just before Xmas. There are other similar devices one is the Philips HDD100.
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One thing the iPOD can't do is work with .wma files, the Philips can although in my tests there was some popping and jumping something I did not get with .MP3 files.
Leaving the iPOD aside I know of two other names in large size .MP3 players Archos and Creative Labs. The Archos units are simply large hard discs and in most cases somewhat larger in dimension than the Philips. They however can be used as mules to move other data between PC's. The Creative offerings are various sizes and to the best of my knowledge require files to be downloaded from their special interface on the PC.
The Philips HDD100 is small and stylish and comes with a fabric slip case. The dimensions are 10.5x6.5x1.5cm and weights around 160 grams. It comes with a pair of average earpieces and an additional length of lead with a number of controls built in. I prefer my tried and trusted headset and this worked with the additional lead.
Sound quality was not as good as that of the Creative or Archos offerings. The stated battery life was up to 11 hours, the best I got was 9.5 hours. Recharge times were between two and four hours. You get an audible warning close to end of replay time.
Files have to be downloaded through the Philips interface on the PC to be played and rather annoyingly they play in alphabetical order and not track order unless you start the name 01, 02, 03 etc. The interface plays 1, 10, 2, 20 3 etc. It is possible to make playlists. I transferred 800MB of files ripped at 128 and 96mbps and these took around 16.5 hours to play. The total size of the unit formatted is just under 14GB. The special interface on the PC has a learning curve and the .PDF file will need to be read to get the best from it. The transfers are by USB2 so are quite rapid.
You can use the unit as a mule as it also appears as a drive letter in My Computer but any .mp3 or .wma files dragged and dropped to the unit will not be played.
The unit is also a recorder and various bit rates can be used, the built in mic works at 64mbps plenty of quality for text, some units from other manufacturers record but only in .wav file format that are around 20 times the size.
Three times during my review the unit locked up on me, you need to press three specific keys simultaneously to reset the unit, I found this task rather tricky. With some work on the sound quality - especially in .wma - this could be a iPOD competitor. The price is around £250.
www.philips.com >consumer products >audio click on the The Smallest Jukebox
http://www.consumer.philips.com/global/b2c/ce/catalog/product.jhtml?divId=0&groupId=AUDIO_GR&catId=PORTABLE_AUDIO_CA&subCatId=MP3_PLAYERS_SU&productId=HDD100_05
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