I love my ipod to bits and patronized it since the Nano Gen 1. It’s convenient, light and indestructable. I’ve dropped it many times and it’s never gotten busted. I do have some reservations though. The ipod misses out on many features that cheapo gadgets provide as standard like FM tuners, voice recorders and mp4 playback. My $40 china made player let’s me watch superb mp4 in full glory. But my Nano 3rd Gen at $200 doesn’t!. Arrrgghgh.

So I began shopping around for a flash-based portable media player and discovered the Cowon D2. Not only does it sport a 2.5 inch touch screen, it also runs off a solid state flash drive ranging from 2GB to 8GB. It’s got FM tuner, voice recorder and darn it- it plays classical music like a virtouso!

Koreans made the Cowon D2 (I wonder if it’s related to the Cowon Jet Audio software I used back 1999) and this toy differs from the armies of cheap knockoffs flodding the market. For starters, its battery life goes up to 55 hours for constant playback and video kills it after 12 hours. The Ipod lasts only up to 35 hours for music and 5 hours for video. Then the D2 outputs to your TV and ships with an AC adapter. Does the Ipod do that? Nahhhh.

You can lug this beauty around to the gym office and your romantic date. Thanks to that monster battery. It’s so light, you won’t feel it in your pocket. And if you find 8GB to small, no prob! Pop in an external 16GB HSCD card that can play all the latest pirated videos on that long hall flight.

If you’re tired of the regular ipod, try the Cowon D2. It’s a touch screen beauty that simply make your ears sing!