The unit costs about $300. Other features include a 1.8-inch, 260,000-color screen with a 160 x 128 resolution. This device will also serve as a USB host, which means that you can connect your digital cameras to it and transfer the photos for later viewing, and the viewing can be done while listening to music. It has a clock with an alarm and, for the music buffs, has an adjustable 5-band equalizer. The actual playback time is amazing—up to at least 14 hours. This is due to the built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery, which takes about three hours to recharge. Does the iAudio support MAC OS and Linux? Yes, but for data transfer purposes only. (Linux must be version 2.2 or higher).

COWON America also has another product worth mentioning, the iAudio G3 MP3 player. With the iAudio G3, you can get a continuous playback time of up to 50 hours on just two AA batteries! While most MP3 players have only one or two lines for display, this unit has a bright, four-line wide graphic LCD with an indigo blue backlight. Like the X5, the G3 also shares some of the same features, like the 5-band equalizer and the clock with alarm.

It also comes with a very nice software called JetShell, which can be used to manage all of your settings, songs, files and play list directly from your computer. You will be able to burn, transfer files and do other convenient things with this software. MAC and Linux users will find that they would love this model, because the iAudio G3 is available to be used on both platforms. For more information, visit www.jetaudio.com.

A few of the other players in portable media are the Creative Zen 20 GB (gigabyte) Portable Media Center by Creative Labs and the X2 MEGA View 566 20 GB Portable Media Player. The Zen will allow you to take the digital entertainment from your computer right along with you wherever you go. This includes recorded TV shows, home movies, photos, music videos and much more. All of this is done with the Windows Media Center Edition interface. It is possible to get up to 85 hours of movie playback. If music is your thing, how do 9,000 songs sound? It may be hard to believe, but this media has the capability of holding tens of thousands of photos. Visit www.creative.com for more information.

The Mega View by X2 has a starting price under $400. It’s only 8.5 ounces; this unit has about eight devices built into one unit. The MEGA View 566 can connect directly to most video sources and can record directly from that source. It’s an FM radio, with 640 hours of voice recording, video playback, photo viewer and a memory card reader. It also comes with a tripod and remote control with a 10-feet range. You will be able to set the duration of recording, so that you do other things without worrying when to press stop. Visit www.x2usa.com to learn more.