new portable to replace NetMD

[blade86]

Having just upgraded my PX200s to E3s, my Sharp NetMD DR420 "happens" to crap out - well it won't transfer music via netMD - works great otherwise.
I was thinking of just getting a new one but I remember the hell that NetMD is so I was thinking maybe its time to ditch NetMD.

Now ive been on the forums for the past 2 weeks reading reviews after reviews so ive done my research.
Here's what id like in order:

Good Battery life (>10hrs)
Value
Portability/Durability
Decent Sound Quality

Maximum storage would be 20gig (barely got 10gigs of mp3s just now) and less than 10Gigs seems daft

I think ive ruled out the iPod what with all this battery malarky and also I dont like being a sheep - something different.

Creative NJ3 - going at a good price at Amazon UK, it will fit in my jacket pocket, just, but its still a bit of a brick.

The iRiver 120 seems to be good, if rather costly though some people are impressed, others less so.

All other mp3 players seem a bit of a ripoff over here in the UK, perhaps the Zen?

CD/mp3 player has poor battery life and portablity/durability is an issue.
HiMD doesnt seem to be all that great. NetMD is still crappy. Flash mp3 players would be great if they were available at a bigger memory and cheaper price.

Don't need lineout, or multiple format support or anything else fancy really. A good remote would be nice perhaps?!

SO im leaning towards the iHP-120 - but its so costly - anywhere cheap I can get it??

Any advice would be joyous

 

[thewaka]

Have you considered the Dell DJ? From its specs and what I've read on this forum, it suits your needs. It currently is the player I am most interested in, but waiting on the Zen Touch before making a final decision.

As far as CD/MP3 players having poor battery life, have you looked at the Sony NE300? I have one and it has great battery life. There is a 3-page thread here talking about it (should be near the top of page one of this forum as it has recently been posted to). I have a 510 from last year which boasted ~80 hours of battery life and I know that was pretty accurate. The 300 sounds better, though, and cost me less.

Diana

 

[chicubs]

My personal fav: the philips hdd120 fits all of your criteria. Can be had for around $250 for the 20gb.

 

[Hell_Gopher]

I'm happy with the Zen I have. If you want a 20GB player you might want to wait for the Zen Touch, which is coming soon.

 

[sumguy_]

since you had a netmd player obviously you dont mind transcoding (i.e. to the minidisc format), sothe new sony nw-hd1 could be good for you if it is released where you are soon enough:

Good Battery life (>10hrs) - plays for 20
Value - the ONLY thing that Im not sure about.... it is SONY afterall
Portability/Durability - it is the smallest thing out there. it is smaller than an m3 and it has a screen on the main unit
Decent Sound Quality - it aint going to be any worse than your net md player, but otherwise no one can say yet

that is if you really dont mind transocding cos its atrac only - similar to your minidisc. sonicstage should take care of it on the fly however

 

[CSMR]

No reason you'd have to transcode to the now minidisc - it's changing to an mp3 player that would involve transcoding. Old discs will still work with the new Hi-MD players too.