Olympus m:robe MR-500i (digital AV recorder)

Pros: digital camera, touch screen, can create slide shows on player, remote control is cool, good hard drive size for price

Cons: slow in scrolling through songs, software is average at best, freezes on occasion, short (4-5hrs) battery life, can't listen to music and photograph simultaneously

Summary: Its a good player for people looking for the IPod alternative. It takes pretty good resolution digital pics, but the lighting must be good. You can create slide shows directly on the player and on the software. The touch screen is cool and backlit so you have no problem seeing the screen in the dark. Its relatively easy to take care of and I know because mine is still working and I've dropped it several times. Whenever you pull it out lots of heads turn, the camera is really the coolest feature. It is a good player, but there are a few drawbacks. The software, m:trip, is the only way to get songs on to the player. M:trip doesn't take mp4, or ACC files so you can't take music from say Itunes and put it directly into the m:robe software. It only takes mp3 and WMA and associated files so that means you won't be able to get as many songs on the player as you would one that supports mp4 (cause mp4s are smaller). And you'll have to rip all of your cds with either m:trip or Windows medida. The only way to charge it is on the base. The manual says that it charges when attached to the computer, but I've never seen it happen. The battery life isn't very long, but the backlight and the camera is very draining. Its not the fastest in scrolling through song lists, or from song to song, or going from music to camera, so this player takes a bit of patience. But for me, it was really good. I paid $200 and got a 30Gb player with a camera which allows me to consolidate my electronics. I hope this dissertation (lol) on the m:RObe 500i has been helpful