Cowon iAudio X5 I cant wait for this to hit the US market. Its selling in Asia and Europe.

Tom's Hardware Guide wasn't overly impressed with the PMA400, mainly due to the PDA features. They recommended a "wait and see" attitude.

Sandisk just came out this month with their new flash drive based 512 & 1gig Sansa line which includes an SD expansion slot. I've read good things about their MP3 players (the flash based version w/out the expansion slot) and that they run for up to 15 hrs on a single AAA battery. The new Sansa line claims to have the same battery life and boasts of an FM radio as well. The new line is selling as low as $134 for the 1 g version (although list price is much higher). Personal online reviews aren't abundant yet as it's too new, but I saw one where someone mentioned his battery life was not as expected (possibly due to running the files off the expansion card??).

I myself am in the pursuit of a new mp3 player. I put it on hold after I got my Treo phone as I can listen to mp3's on that with the 1 gig expansion card, BUT I dont feel at all comfortable using that device (Treo) while exercising or running, although as a mp3 it works great, still I wouldn't like it if I dropped it while exercising , so I dont use it for that.

If it is going to be perfect, it needs to be able to accommodate every mp3 and wma in my collection

Cowon makes great players. Good features sets, firmare updates and most importantly awesome sound! I own a G3 and would definitely consider the X5 if I were to buy a HD DAP. The only downsides to the X5 are no gapless play( most DAP's lack this feature) and no ID3 tag support( I am sure a future firmware will change this).

Better sound quality than MP3 OGG?

This is just one of the definitions I found by googling it...

This is an open-source codec, meaning (among other things) that no one has to pay licensing fees when it's used, unlike proprietary codecs such as MP3, WMA, or AAC.
www.cdlabs.co.uk/glossary/

Well, I finally broke down and bought a Rio Forge 512MB. So far so good...
It had all the major criteria that I wanted. It has worked well "out of the box" now for about a week.

I'm going the other way - using the Treo more and more for music. With the 2Gb Sandisk SD cards now released, and the USB sync cable doing the charging at the same time as re-arranging my music, the Treo really has come into its own as the single device ('phone, email, calendar, music player) for getting around - especially on and off thin metal tubes.

I'm darned happy with my I5 - great for audiobooks with both a resume and a tracking feature. And, yes, there are ways to get Audible books to play on it.

I finally broke down and purchased a DAP. I decided the time was right because we were heading out on a 4k road trip. The family's entire music library is now on my DAP.

I researched lots of players and decided on the Cowon iAudio X5 20gb. I love this unit. It's easy to use, has great sound and is drag-and-drop so I don't need any other software. It also has the USB on-the-go port, and support video (on the small screen). I don't care about id3 tag support but FLAC support was important and the X5 has it.

I purchased the 20GB X5L a month ago and LOVE this DAP. As a former owner of an iPod, I cannot believe how sheepishly I've followed the crowd and believed the hype. Apple has a GREAT marketing machine behind them, but I digress.

The DAP has 35 hours of BATTERY LIFE, an FM Player, line-in recording including the ability to record FM at 320kpbs AND scheduled FM recording, and even more importantly, the ability to play videos AND view pictures. (Cowon should pay me as an advertiser )

They just relased a new beta version of their firmware which finally has opened up support for USB on the GO for Canon digital cameras (I have the s500 powershot). This basically means that I can now dump my pictures while on the road directly into my X5 without having to lug around a laptop. Awesome! ^^

All this being said, if the X5 does lack anything, it is support for browing through music via id3 tags. I personally prefer browsing my music library sorted via folder structure that I create to my liking, but it would be nice to have the option to search via Genre, Artist, Album name, etc.

I fly EWR->PER later on this week--my 35 hour battery life will surely be put to the test! Pity those folks whose iPods give way before we even hit the half-way mark.

Read the review here:
iAudiophile 10 page review
Cnet User Opinions (109 as of 8/6)

OP-I liked the Gmini as a DAP, but did not feel that it was as strong of an MP3 player as the X5. I bought my DAP primarily to listen to MP3's, which the X5 excels at (support for OGG, FLAC, etc. proves this). Additionally, while I'm not an audiophile, there are countless audiophiles who will testify to the fact that the iAudio products are superior to almost all other MP3 players out there.

Maybe we'll need our own X5 forum on flyertalk soon.

I am looking at the X5 but what I don't like is that it doesn't charge with USB. Is that correct? So you need a little mini dock thingie and I assume a transformer...yet another charger to carry

Also, what is the battery chemistry and is the battery use-replaceable?

Edited to add: the battery is apparently Lithium ion and the battery is not user-replaceable

The X5 does charge via USB, just not as quickly with the charger. I do this all the time at work. You do need the mini-doc thingie for USB. There are some on the iAudiophile X5 forum that think it can charge through the USB on-the-go port, but this is unconfirmed.

The battery can be user replaced by removing the 4 screws and taking the back cover off. This would void the warranty, but I suspect the unit would be out of warranty by the time the batts needed to be replaced.