[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/r...%253Dms%255Fpmc

This is very off topic but will be of interest to many of you as this is using similar technology that is in your Pocket PC. Amazon has the new Windows Mobile based Portable Media Centers on their site for pre-order. You can read more about the PMC and the related devices at their site.

UPDATE: You can find hardware pre-order links over at Digital Media Thoughts.

[Ed Hansberry]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/r...%253Dms%255Fpmc

This is very off topic but will be of interest to many of you as this is using similar technology that is in your Pocket PC. Amazon has the new Windows Mobile based Portable Media Centers on their site for pre-order. You can read more about the PMC and the related devices at their site.

UPDATE: You can find hardware pre-order links over at Digital Media Thoughts.

[JonathanWardRogers]

I don't see a link to pre-order.

[Ed Hansberry]

Originally Posted by JonathanWardRogers

I don't see a link to pre-order.

:?

A few hours ago there were links to two models in the upper right of that page. Keep checking. Maybe they are moving stuff around.

[Jason Dunn]

Pre-order links are here:

http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/...?topic_id=5874

[JonathanWardRogers]

Hmmm... $500 for a device that plays media. I would much rather just spend half the money on an external HD and the other half on a TV out card and I'd have the same thing with my PPC.

Or am I missing something?

[Ed Hansberry]

Originally Posted by JonathanWardRogers

Hmmm... $500 for a device that plays media. I would much rather just spend half the money on an external HD and the other half on a TV out card and I'd have the same thing with my PPC.

Or am I missing something?

You are missing something. These will plug into XP Media Center boxes, transfer over TV programs for watching, allow HUGE music repositories, etc. These are not PIM at all - totally portable multimedia devies.

I wish some of this functionality was in the Pocket PC, but it doesn't seem MS is headed that direction.

[dean_shan]

I'd buy one of these over a HD based MP3 player. Wish they would play Xvid files though.

[GoldKey]

Originally Posted by dean_shan

I'd buy one of these over a HD based MP3 player. Wish they would play Xvid files though.

While these are very cool from the W?BIC department, an MP3 player is a passive device. I bring mine to work every day and use it while I work, I use it in cars on trips, etc. Watching video is an active use. If you want a portable video player get a cheap laptop. Best Buy regularly has laptops for $799 and usually if you really watch the ads, you can score a $599 or $699 model every couple of months. That said, if something like this was priced maybe $100 more than a comporably equiped MP3 player, I might go for it. Right now though, the HD space seems too small. I have a 40 GB MP3 player and that seems just the right size. Throw video into the mix and the drive needs to get bigger still.