Hi

I'm going to order a portable CD player in 30 days... So I have some questions/doubts
about choosing the best player for my purposes

1. Firmware upgradable player so It may support OGG/MusePack in the future
2. As slim as possible.
3. Best sound quality
5. Ability to drive Koss PortaPro perfectly and Grado SR-80 acceptably.
4. I can pay up to 200 USD for it.

As far as I know, iRiver iMP-400 fulfills these conditions perfectly.

Q1: What are the closest alternatives (or even better alts) to iRiver iMP players?

Q2: iRiver iMP-550 has a RISC CPU, greater battrey life, slimmer in all dimensions,
greater buffer in comparison to iMP-400.

Is it currenly publicly available?
or will it be released in a month?
How much does it/will it cost?

Q3: I want to order it online and ship it to US. Which site offers best prices?

Any comment is well appreciated

Thanks in advance,
Mehrtash

I have read reviews of MPIO's latest the CL100 which suggest it is a not bad alternative to the iRiver, slightly cheaper in the UK as well if you can get your hands on one !! Try a google search.

I have an iRiver iMP 400 and am very happy with it, I don't think you could go far wrong with one of these although the iMP 550 does look like a great player.

Thanks for your reply

Any other comments?

Cheers,
Mehrtash