End of a Dilemma-I got a Gigabeat
First off, I need to send a huge thanks over to the guys at
mygigabeat.com for their excellent coverage of the release of the S series. There information was critical in my decision. After much debate and a lot of research, I decided on the Gigabeat S30. Having used it for about a week now, I can say with confidence I am very glad I decided to not give Apple any more of my money. The Gigabeat has an excellent user interface (navigating via Windows Media took my fiancee all of 2 minutes to figure out). The battery life is actually showing to be a hair over the 12 hours advertised, but please keep in mind that might be because I have a lot of low-encoded MP3's. Although there are no equalizer presets, I have found no issues with the sound quality. My only real compliant right now, which will be addressed soon, is that I need a case. A few firms are starting to get them out the door, and check mygigabeat.com, as Tomas has posted details about them. Video quality is excellent, although the only things we watched on a car trip this weekend was South Park's Woodland Critter Christmas episode and the Will Ferrel skit from SNL about Blue Oyster Cult (aka. MORE COWBELL!). If you are thinking about another IPod, I would very seriously consider the Gigabeat first, as I think it's a better alternative.