Large capacity mp3 players

[ChodeMaster]

Hiya all

I'm looking to do some travelling in the new year and I'm thinking I should purchase a large (say 80gb or greater) mp3 player so I'm not without my life support/music collection. The only ones I know of are Ipods and the upcoming Zune.

While I don't have an irrational dislike of Ipods I'd like to have something a little more open if I could (i.e. drag and drop files not locked (or semi-locked into itunes), and a larger range of file types).

So I guess my questions are:

1) Are there any options I'm missing?
2) What are the pros and cons (probably difficult for the not yet released Zune) of the different options/what would people recommend?

I'll be using it unamped with my er4ps initially so i'd like it if the headphone out actually produced decent sound, but long term I'd like it if the player had a line out so I could add an amp to the mix.

Sorry if this question has already been asked, and thanks in advance to those who answer.

 

[kaldaim]

I'm in the same position as you.

I do not think the zune2 has line out. In addition, I believe it requires the Zune software as iPod requires iTunes, and it doesn't have a very wide of file support either (WMA lossless, though, fortunately)

I'm interested to hear what others have to say

 

[ChodeMaster]

Noone knows of any options other than the ipod and new zune?

 

[frozncore]

You could get a Kenwood. has superior sound quality than both the Zune and iPods. However the max size of Kenwoods are 60GB and they don't come cheap either. I believe that the Kenwoods have a built in amp.

 

[OverlordXenu]

Pacemaker. 120gigs, 520 euros. Due out in January.

 

[rr423]

That Pacemaker looks awesome, but it's more for dj's. it supports a ton of codecs. If this thing was 300-350 USD than i would consider it an option. But not at the price it's going to retail at