There is really no easy way to say this, so I am just going to come right out and say it.  Honestly, I could not recommend watching video on any of these devices.  Their screens are all too small to really make it worthwhile.  If you plan to watch videos, then I suggest you look at the iPod Touch for a nice portable device, or even the Zune 120, which has a very nice screen as well.  For something a bit less portable, the Archos 7 is a fantastic option.

So there, I got that out of my system and I do feel better.  Now, forget I said it.  What we are going to look at tonight is how each of these compares to the others, and which offers the best of the bunch for watching video.  Really, this is going to be one of the shorter entries into the Listen To This series.  There is not a whole lot to it.  Let’s get started.

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On paper, this one is the real deal for a portable media player.  its specs just sing out to you.  A nice 3.2 inch screen.  Fancy new touch controls.  120 GB (yes, that is GB) hard drive to store all of your videos, photos, music, and other media.  Wireless connectivity.  FM radio…The list of features just goes on and on.  Like I said, on paper, this one is the best player I have ever seen.  But if we only relied on what we saw on paper, then the Redskins would be winning Super Bowls, and the Yankees would be heading toward their 53rd World Series Championship.  They all looked great on paper, but that is not why we are here.  What you really care about is the field performance.  To see how well these specs and features translate into a workable media player, and whether this one offers true competition for the iPod Touch and other media players, hit the jump and keep reading.

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I was rummaging through my basement over the weekend, looking for some plugs or cables or something, when I came upon a great box of old electronics and gadgets.  I never did find the cable I was looking for, but I did find my first digital music player: The Rio 800 digital audio player.  Back in its day, before Apple captured the field with the iPod, the Rio was pretty much the gold standard for music players. 

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Some time ago, I had the opportunity to review the Sandisk Sansa Clip.  It is a great, little music player, which is ideal for runners and other individuals who do not need constant access to the screen.  My only complaint about this player was that it has limited internal memory and no opportunity for expansion.  Even though it can only play music, I still found the maximum size of 4 GB to be a bit limiting.

All of that is about to change, however, with the release this week of an 8 GB version of Sansa Clip.  The 8GB Clip, which makes its debut this week, is able to hold up to 4000 songs, without any modifications to its miniscule size.  You can find more information at Sansa’s website, where you can also purchase the 8GB Sansa Clip for only $99.99. 

This is just a quick follow up to the hardware post in this series.  In that post, we looked at the hardware and some pseudo-unboxings.  Well, just to finish off the unboxing theme, I thought we could take a quick look at what else comes in the boxes.  And it is not much: a sync charge cable, some headphones, and various other sundry manuals.  Not much controversy there…or so you might think.

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