I like to get a better portable as a 2nd next to my slacker. What I am looking for something that plays many formats and stays up to date without just going with the apple if they do it then we do it thing. It would also be nice to be able to hook up a external Hard drive up via usb so you can access even more music if say at home without a pc. Just some ideas of some things I would like to see one day. What do you guys like or come apon?

No offense but you are asking for the impossible. Most DAP (digital audio player) manufacturers don't have a set schedule whenever they update their firmware. They just update it when they update it or when there is a bug (Apple updates when there are bugs as well, not just when they feel like it).

As for an external hard drive, I don't know of a device that can do this as they are all designed to use their internal storage. The ability to read an external hard drive would be nice when you are at home but DAPs are designed for portable usage. Otherwise they would be about the size of an Asus Eee PC.

So, in going with the features that you mentioned, I can't recommend a single DAP. That being said, I have 5 DAPs now. I have a 16GB iPod touch, 5G 60GB iPod, 4GB Creative Zen, and a new (3 days old) 4GB (silver) Sansa Clip. I have different players for different reasons. My 16GB iPod touch is my main player as it has a nice, large screen and wi-fi internet browsing. The 5G 60GB iPod mainly sits in my car so I can access a good chunk of my lossy library via a USB connection to my car CD deck. I have the 4GB Creative Zen that I use for exercise purposes. I recently received the 4GB Sansa Clip from my University's bookstore as part of a end of the semester contest. I imagine that the Clip will replace my Zen for exercise purposes.

So I guess I am trying to ask you, what more are you looking for? What kind of options do you want (besides the two that you listed which frankly don't help too much), how important is audio quality, do you want nice video playback, what about screen size, is battery life important, what about codec support, and do you want the ability to install custom firmware? Answer those and I think we can guide you even further. Or you can search the forums as people are always asking about recommended DAPs.

Something that can play many up and coming music formats like mp3 and aac stuff. Something big but I know size comes with big bucks and what you can afford. Just was wondering what flashy cutting edge devices you guys come upon that would attract my attention. Firmware updates are good to have too. I depend on that a lot with my slacker portable. Just trying to look outside the IPOD bubble a little to hear what other players are popular as well


update:
found this sounds promising iAudio X5

I remember reading something about "USBOTG" or whatever it is on a Cowon/iAudio player. So yes, you may have luck there.

The Sansa players all have a MicroSD slot so you can use those to expand its collection, although on the model I have (e250) I suspect it only supports up to 4GB cards. The more modern ones might support better capacities, though.

I would highly recommend the X5 and would suggest that you should look at running Rockbox (www.rockbox.org)
I run my X5 with Rockbox and have had great results. I do not know whether you can run an X5 linked to an external hard drive but it does have usb connector which i think you can use to connect to other playback devices (though im not 100% sure as ive never needed to use the X5 in that way).

X5 is really fragile, headphone jack easily breaks, the stick for control get worn out after some time, and I'm not a heavy user, almost every music player I had for the last 8 years still works..
I'm using a iRiver Clix2 at the moment.. But the Cowon D2 seems popular right now, I believe it can also run Rockbox.

Rockbox for the D2 is not finished yet.

I am also looking for a new player right now, the D2 and Clix2 are options for me. So far I have found:

D2

Advantages:
* Extremely long battery life
* People say it has slightly better sound quality than the Clix

Disadvantages:
* Lots of firmware problems, such as sorting of OGG files not working properly and corrupted databases (see iaudiophile.net)

Clix2

Advantages:
* Less firmware problems (or so it seems)

Disadvantages:
* Shorter battery life
* Does not playback OGG properly (background distortion, see misticriver.net).

How about a Nokia or Sony Ericsson smartphone?

It can play music in mp3/aac, has music manager, voice recording, expandable memory, video playback and recording, photo shooting, image viewing, text viewing and editing, email messaging, internet browsing, voice calling over GSM, UMTS and voip, wi-fi connectivity, Java and Symbian applications support ETC ETC ETC!