What I desire in a portable media player [PMP]

As you can see in my blog posts, I have a pretty decent number of gripes about media players like the iPod touch, SanDisk Sansa, and Creative ZEN. They all have their strengths, but the weaknesses are massive to me. So in case there's a product researcher, Zune designer, or just a curious mind out there looking for what a computer hacking graphic designer sees to be the perfect PMP, I'm making this blog post just for you.

Let's start with the ideal size. Some are as small as Hillary's chances of getting elected [@] while others are as big as the wallpapers I make [@]. I think the perfect PMP should be in the cutting edge of mediocrity [for the record, I got that phrase from The King of Queens]. My recomended size would be somewhere in between this sizeasy comparison. But keeping in mind that compact PMPs are also a necessity to human survival, here's my idea of what a small PMP should look like: [@]

Everybody loves having lots of space on their media player! Personally, I don't settle for a capacity that I can get with a $25 USB drive, such as my 4GB flash drive. And as of late, I've been seeing 8GBs going for $30, so I've been raising standards. I'd go for something around 16GB if it's going to be on the smaller, more portable size, and at least 30-40GB if it's going to be a full-sized PMP such as the iPod touch and Zune 30. To clarify, large/full-sized PMPs should use hard disk storage instead of flash. Hard disk is faster with a higher capacity, as well as being very cost effective. Sure, flash memory is much safer and more durrable, but I'm not going to be dropping my PMP from a 2 story building. Hey, even if I do, chances are that the screen is going to break over the drive being ruined (and supposing that the drive does die, I still make monthly backups of my portable sorage devices).

Moving on, let's talk about the screen. To me, the screen's size doesn't matter nearly as much as the resolution. The higher the pixel density, the better. So without stating any screen size, I'll go on and state that a small media player should have a QVGA screen (240x320 pixels). For large PMPs, QVGA also works fine, though I'll much prefer an WVGA-loaded (600x420) PMP if available.

As for other "bonus" features, I guess I wouldn't mind a touch screen (still not a big fan of them, though). Radio would be nice if I can't find anything good in my playlist. Mass storage would be awesome. WiFi would be equally awesome. Having an SD or CF slot would be one of the most important features in any media player to me. I hate being limmited to manufacturers specs (which is the root of my hate for Apple), which also brings me to the desire for a skinnable interface, or at least a customizable background image.

Supposing that someone actually made a full-sized media player to the specs I want, it would cost about $300-350, though I find the ideal price for a large PMP is from $100-300. As for small PMPs, I'll go wtih $75-150; anything more is outrageous.

The closest thing to the ideal large PMP to me would be the Zune 80. The size is decent, it has 80GB space, a QVGA screen (though it should be WVGA for the screen dimensions), radio, WiFi, decent UI, among other features like free etching, all for $250 direct from manufacturer [$240 at Newegg; $200 at craigslist], . Unfortunately, the Zune 80 lacks the expansion slot (among a few minor features) to be perfect. The iPod touch has most of this, though only holds a max 32GB for $430 [the lowest price I found on the Interwebs] and is just as closed up as the Zune.

As for small PMPs, I can't bring you a verdict. I'm yet to see a defiatively great one, though I wouldn't mind if Apple took a gander at this iPod mini concept ;D