Cowon X5 - hard drive, viewer, mp3 PLUS USB HOST

Any experience out there withthis storage device / player ?

Looks kinda like an ipod with very similar features (although it supports more music file formats and might be a bit slimer).

A couple of questions I'd want to ask before I bought one...

• Does it support NEF files?
  
• What makes it better than ipod, iRiver et al. who already have a great history with mp3 players and act as reasonable storage devices?
  
• Can you get away with only 30GB storage space?
  
• Can you get larger drives down the track if you need to?
  
• What is the battery life with file transfer? (it is usually far less than specified music playback time)
  
• What is included in the box?
  

Where the device will be used primarily for image storage, I'd be happier with something where you could just stick a CF card in it and transfer the images. This would be particularly useful for you with a D70 as it is limited to a USB 1.1 transfer speed.

I guess it really depends on whether you want an mp3 player, a portable hard drive for your laptop, or a really useful image storage device.

If you want an mp3 player with a few extra functions - the iRiver H320 has been doing all the things that this Cowan device does and more for over a year (eg., tune into radio stations, record audio using an external mike, and play back videos, WMA, and Ogg Vorbis). The H320 has better battery life, is around the same price and has a number of firmware upgrades that have improved on original functionality. The H320 also includes a bunch of accessories that cost extra on the ipod and may or may not be included in the X5 (eg. docking station, line in recording cord, remote control, backup battery etc...)

Ummm, just read the PCMag review... "JPEG photos are supported, but only up to 2.5MB, and there's no subfolder support" Sounds like a bit of a killer to me.

Other options are discussed extensively in previous threads and include include the Epson P2000 and if you can do without the screen, the PD70X and Vosonic 3320 - all of which have card slots to transfer images quickly and have reasonable battery life for transfers. Other nice thing about the PD70X and Vosonic is that the hard drives are user replacable - and currently come in up to 100GB sizes.

Hope this helps.

I wasn't aware that these other devices could act as USB *hosts*, which of course allows the use of HD drives attached to a device such as the Cowon -- and that seems useful -- allows a second, perhaps larger external USB to be attached.

Also, I usually shoot JPG+RAW and use the screen only to send obvious junk to the bin -- so the small screen and filesize aren't so important.

My old CF/HD (flashtrax, bought used) is wearing out ... may go laptop, may not.

Cheers,

Chris