I am looking into a flash player and most of teh units go up to 1 Gig and that's it. I read an articvle that talked about how flash drives are coming down in price from the manufacturuers so i was wondering if anyone heard anything about any new models coming out that might sport 2-4 gig flash units. Of course i would like to keep my price under $200, preferably <$175.

I did some searching. All I could find in the 2GB range and above were the iPod nano's and a whole bunch of microdrive DAP's. Is there a reason you don't want a nano? If you are a student, you can get a 2GB iPod nano for $179. If you are not intent on getting a flash memory player, there are great deals on micro drive players. You can get a 6GB iPod mini for $179 and there are a lot of websites offering micro drive Rio's for around the same price.


Edit: I read your other post. I am able to jog on a treadmill using my 4G 40GB black and white iPod without skipping and my music is encoded with Lame 3.96.1 at the --alt-preset standard. Most micro drive players have a set amount of flash memory that they use for cache. The iPod line seem to have more cache than other players. I had a Rio Nitrus (1.5GB) and was able to work out with it as well.

The iPod Nano IS a flash player, AFAIK. It does not have a hard disk drive inside. That is why it is so small and has a long battery life and it never skips.

Not even with VBR files? ;-)

so.....
no news on any 2 gig flash players coming out. I would go for the Nano but i like OGG and would prefer an FM tuner as well.

why don't you take a look at DAPReview? The site also has a banner (their only sponsorer) who sells and ships every DAP in existence. Check it out. You may find something you like.

The Iaudio I5 with 2GB capacity has been out for several months now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16855603820 (full ogg bitrate support and an FM tuner, too).

I don't know about forthcoming players, but there are already:
iAudio G3
iAudio 5
i.Beat Vision
Buy the way all of them support Ogg Vorbis, if you care.

Someone mentioned the iAudio U3 that showed up on their Korean website. It will also have 2GB capacity. I don't have the link, but it is supposed to support FLAC.

IIRC, Sony is supposed to release a 2GB version of their NW-E507 flash player sometime soon.

that looks like a keeper. I have narroweed it down to the G5 and the G3. Both seem to have the same features but are styled differently. Is this the only difference. Also, teh G3 takes AA and has longer battery life. I am curious why Cowon would bother making 2 such similar products.

I'd go for AA instead of build in...



FLAC on a 2gb player? Forgive me, thats stupid...

I have an exact answer to your question. Here are two 2 flash players with 2GB and they are coming soon:

iBead 700

45 x 45 x 16.5 mm
38 g
512MB / 1GB / 2GB
TFT 262000 цветов, 1.2", 160x128
Audio: MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA support
Video: AVI, ASF, JPEG, TXT
USB2.0 / FM radio / dictaphone / clock
___

IOPS GYUK.

up to 2 GB
SRS WOW v2.0
OLED 65k
LiPol
Audio MP3/WMA/OGG Vorbis
VideoMPEG4/DivX
Dictaphone WMA (+ Line-In)
2 phone out

will these be released in the US?

Second that. I got the iAudio 5 myself. Haven't regretted dealing with AAA batteries for it vs a built in Li-ion. Just wish I got a better charger. If you want decent battery life you gotta convert it to a more conservative bitrate. The dual rocker switches aren't bad either. They're easy to operate blind. My only regret is that I didn't get the 2 gig one over the 1 gig (i think). Comes with a screen protector, headphones I immediately gave to my mom, and a case that works with any generic arm band. And err... some others I guess:

• color is kinda weak. cool but weak. can probably only do ~20% of the NTSC gamut
• boot time is proportional to the number of songs, probably the same for the other iAudios. look up the limit of how many files and folders they can hold. I got 250 songs and I figure it takes about 11 seconds from the moment you touch it to start playing audio.
• it went a little buggy on me once, but i was due for a firmware upgrade anyways. fixed. (it was probably just been the act of resetting it that fixed it).

http://www.iops.co.kr/

IOPS also makes a 2GB player. You might recognize some of their older players which were rebranded as Jens of Sweden players.

Their older models were colour-coded for capacity; 1GB players only came in gold, 512MB players only came in black, etc. etc. I don't think that's true for new models now.

Well, I can definitely vouch for the 1GB unit anyway...like another poster, I wish I would've waited for the 2GB, which came a month or 2 later. The latest firmware (released last week), 1.30, decreases the load time apparently...I haven't really compared it myself. The G3 is a fair bit larger than the I5, so I think form factor/size was the main reason for releasing both units. Just having a spare AAA with me saves the day on the rare occasion that the battery gets drained...

I can speak for the iAudio5 2gb flash player. I ordered that from NewEgg about 6 weeks ago. It's nice, but some drawbacks that come to mind, the battery goes down faster (even with most light effects off) than my previous iRiver 899 1gb model (I'd still take standard battery power over a restricted rechargable any day). The initial power-on time is painfully slow. Granted, I use some sony sport earphones that go in & wrap around my ears, but I have also had it hooked up to my car stereo as well - generally I was more impressed with the quality of sound that came from my iRiver. And I have messed around considerably with the custom sound enhancements. I will say i bought it for $245, it appears to already be down to $210 plus shipping. All the other good things you can read about it on sites like CNET seem to hold up for me as well. Ogg support is nice & so is the layout. Menus were definitely better on my iRiver, but not by much. With the recent firmware on all of this of course. Good Luck hunting.

Just to add both models I use while shooting basketball, that includes running up & down court and doing drills. They have held up well. In case you are interested i hook one of the very mini mountain climbing clips to a toughened strand (which is fed through the hole on the end of the player), similar to the one that comes with the unit, then it just clips on my short or pant waist, very handy and secure.