there are many such flash players around in China (also in computer malls in HK). they cost maybe $30 or less for 1GB, around $50 fo r2GB, looks like a diminished iPod nano, with over dozen language, FM, mic /recording, 1.8” screen, and even plays MTV format movies!

iPod is so yesterday now :)

i got one that is very good in quality.

there are many different shells, they all come with the saem chip-set and software. but you need to venture into the computer malls, eg. in HK. and they are, as lady tsaxp said, ‘generic brand’ made in shenzhen. i will post a picture when i got time. maybe even some sampling of the recording for your judgment.

i didn’t choose it by price.
this one has recording, video, and standard usb inlet/etc. (unlike iPod which has proprietary plug).

but these things are commodities.
the pricing cycle changes by the week in these small shops, i.e minus HK$20-30 every week. bascially correlating with Flash memory price, which is a commodity(unlike IRiver or IPod, i believe their pricing cycle is at least 3-4 months). take the 1GB version, it cost $80-90 in Feb, $50 near end of march, now i heard it is $30-35
(2GB version came out around march)—thing in kunming are probably more expensive and less elegant in design.

i guess when you were in kunming it was dec(?), $50 could only get you 256MB at best.

although i say they dont have a well know brand, they do come with warranty and a beautiful gift box package.
if you understand how the electronic industry works these day, you would not be surprised that these comes from the same factory that does OEM for iPod.—it is bascially assembly job. note they don’t even desgin the chip set/software. they were done by some wholesalers which then sell them to different factories.

dave,

they are abundent in HK. but i don’t know where to get them in China.

i saw similar models in taobao (I never used it myself though), costing RMB318 for 1GB

as for recording quality, what bit-rate is yours? i think the hardware quality are similar, the fact that you may have not as good quality is perhaps a result of bitrate setting (which may be hard-wired)

these gadgets arte typically only 25-30% above the flash memory price.

and here is the flash memory price trend. that explains the difference in pricing between my and lady dantxp and curzon

I think that the attached mic dramatically improves things on the units with hard drives. But because I hate fiddling with wires, I might pick one of these up on eBay. They are going for less than $100

this is one of the major drawback for iPod.

Well, I don’t want to get into an argument about design or features, but it’s not something most people are really looking for. I have an iPod and an Archos Gmini. As far as listening to music goes, the iPod is much better user experience than the Gmini. But, the Gmini’s selling point was the built in flash slot that allows me to carry around a pretty darn small 20 GB hard drive for storing photos on the road. I could say that the lack of said slot is a design flaw in the iPod, but I’m one of those crusty SOBs who doesn’t necessarily like to have one device to do everything—especially if it’s not going to do everything well. (Whenever I find myself in need of a new cell phone, I hunt down a discontinued model I like because it does one thing—makes calls—particularly well.)

I’m pretty impressed with the quality of the recording Curzon got out of this thing and been looking for something similar (for an upcoming trip, incidentally), so I think I think I might be spending my latest check from my neo-conservative paymasters on one of these.