To find the best MP3 Player... (Mission Impossible?)

[CMetaphor]

Alright folks, I'm once again going to ask for help and opinions in finding a good MP3 player for a friend of mine. Here's some of his requirements:
- NOT an iPod/iPhone
- Decent sized screen ( > 2 inches)
- Photo viewing / Fluid video watching
- Must be detectable/used as an external hard drive (I'll explain that in a second)

Hopefuls:
- Easy drag-and-drop any format video/audio to the device without the need to convert.
- Touchscreen (this is really not a requirement though)
- DRM-free

So that's the skinny of it all. Yes, I've been looking at reviews all over to try to find the best suggestion, but unfortunately no sites (or very few) mention the underlined requirement as above. Why does it need to be detected as a regular external hard drive? Because he'd like to use it for storage as well AND he'd like to use it in his car which has a USB input (which USB keys normally work on)

So HWC, what would you suggest??

[Spaceman-Spiff]

- Easy drag-and-drop any format video/audio to the device without the need to convert.

A netbook, or very small tablet that you can install OS and codecs on it.

Btw, what's your budget?

[Polygon]

How many GB in size is he looking for?

I'd say the best to fit that description is the cowon player:

NCIX.com - Buy Cowon S9 16GB Video MP3 Player 3.3IN Touchscreen USB2.0 Bluetooth Xvid WMV9 Titanium / Black - S9-16TB In Canada.

There are others (samsung P3, the Sony X-1000, etc) but these don't have nearly as much codec and file type support. There's also the cowon O2, but that's much chunkier and imo pretty ugly. Maybe wait for some upcoming Cowon products?

[Polygon]

Originally Posted by Spaceman-Spiff

A netbook, or very small tablet that you can install OS and codecs on it.

Btw, what's your budget?

or a PMP

[CMetaphor]

For size, i think anything greater than 4GB should be good, so 8GB+.

The others you've mentioned seem to be hard to find, and even for the Cowon s9, I can't yet find any info on how its detected by a system (or in the case, car radio as well).

His budget is around $200-300, but he specifically told me if he's going to pay that much it better last, lol.

Waiting isn't a great option, since he'd like to have one in the next couple of weeks before starting his next semester at University.

EDIT:
PMPs are probably too expensive, unless you can find one within the price bracket.

[Arinoth]

If his contract was up soon on a cell phone i'd just suggest him getting a touch cell phone and slam in a 16GB micro sd card which would make it the easier solution. My fear is that this is probably not an option

[CMetaphor]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

If his contract was up soon on a cell phone i'd just suggest him getting a touch cell phone and slam in a 16GB micro sd card which would make it the easier solution. My fear is that this is probably not an option

Not a bad idea, but i already looked into that option as well. Wouldnt work because most phones (save iPods, blaaaaahhhh) don't play nice with USB car radios. Also, finding ones that could do some light video playback is difficult.

I should also mention that he is a little computer savy, so an MP3/PMP that can only plays videos that need some easy conversion would also be acceptable.

[Polygon]

Originally Posted by Arinoth

If his contract was up soon on a cell phone i'd just suggest him getting a touch cell phone and slam in a 16GB micro sd card which would make it the easier solution. My fear is that this is probably not an option

It would go way over buget (for an unlocked smart phone) but this would be a good alternative. Look into some of the new phones from samsung and nokia. The Nokia N900 is personally my favorite smart phone on the market because it's basically a computer and has support for all formats.

[Arinoth]

Originally Posted by nickpolyz

It would go way over buget (for an unlocked smart phone) but this would be a good alternative. Look into some of the new phones from samsung and nokia. The Nokia N900 is personally my favorite smart phone on the market because it's basically a computer and has support for all formats.

Thats why i asked if his contract was up soon, if it was he could get a new contract and a cell phone for much cheapr then buying an unlocked phone

What's his beef with the iPod?

[Spaceman-Spiff]

Originally Posted by nickpolyz

or a PMP

Even a PMP can't play everything. That's why they usually come with a converter program.

The Cowon S9 is currently on sale on NCIX: NCIX.com - Buy Cowon S9 16GB Video MP3 Player 3.3IN Touchscreen USB2.0 Bluetooth Xvid WMV9 Titanium / Black - S9-16TB In Canada.

According to this review, it can act as a mass-storage device: "You can also directly copy files to the Cowon S9 like a mass storage device using the MSC protocol. It is compatible with all three – Windows, Mac, Linux."