http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... l?NOV-NPOD
20gb, plays MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG insofar as i can tell. maybe even AAC and RM
Built in FM radio - which can be recorded from
Built in voice recorder
Nice easy navigation on big clear screen
Excellent sound quality from all reports - better than Creative!
Can get LCD remote and an FM transmitter (for the car / kitchen) cheaply from the states (my mum & nan are going there in a few weeks)
Good battery life
20mb/sec USB2.0 connection and USB hub built in
Good battery life (LiOn?)
and the hard disc is a 1.8-inch job (like in an iPod mini), so it's the size of a packet of 20 superkings, almost exactly (though my memory of cigarette retailing is patchy*). Meaning, like an iPod mini, it'll go in almost any pocket, but it holds 5x more tunes.
Best of all it's NOT an iPod, so you won't get stabbed by a blagger!
No... actually... best of all... it's £128 including VAT - £133 all in with 3-5 day delivery.
That's ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE POUNDS to your door. Compared to the price of an iPod, or buying/upgrading an iPod mini, that's a old fashioned down and dirty bargain.
The Hi-MD minidisc player will very, very soon be on sale
(ironic, on the very same site i got my first sighting of UK-puchasable Hi-MD discs. oh well) ... this thing will be useful in so many ways, it's just WRONG Now i'm saving my pennies for 18 months time - thanks to the rulings of mr moore, by then the video walkman things (just starting to spread and blossom) should be everywhere and much better quality than these rather patchy fledgling things. (there are very good ones, but they're pricey). And the only thing so much super cooler than a cheap 20gb ipod clone with FM, is an 80gb one with a 3.6" video screen, DivX decoding and a digital TV tuner built in....
(you can get digiboxes for your PC now... £70-80 or so... for full-on TiVo style goodness with Freeview. awesome)
PS Just so no-one thinks i'm a paid talking head, i'd really like someone to go out and find either a better player for the same price (without any looming shortfalls) or a similar one for a better price --- as ive spent the best part of a stolen day at work looking round different pages surrepitously and this actually was the best deal.
* i made up some rectangles of the stated 100x62x22mm in powerpoint and printed it - the assembled box looked for all the world like 20 still-wrapped silk cut ultralights
