Alternatives to the Apple IPod Touch

In the past two years the iPod Touch and iPhone have enjoyed immeasurable success in the MP3 player market. Apple was really the first manufacture to successfully employ its multitouch interface that other companies are desperately trying to duplicate. Some companies have created fine alternative to the almighty Apple itouch. All present advantages and negatives over the iPod Touch and are great alternatives for anyone with a budget or someone who want to differentiate themselves from the crowd.

These six touch screen players are all solid options and each has its flaws and advantages over the itouch.

Memorex TouchMP - The best budget touch screen player at $99

The TouchMP is a very basic touch screen interface that is implemented nicely with the other basic features. While the screen, audio, and video quality has been described as only acceptable it has been said that it is impressive for the price tag. The player also has impressive battery life 50 hours for music and 3 hours for video.

Cowon S9 - $199 16GB Player is good alternative

Very well designed player with a great screen and amazing audio quality struggles when it comes to the user interface. The user interface cannot compare to the likes of Samsung and Apple. Although it is a good effort the screen is not quite as responsive, but the main problem of the interface is that it is very messy and crowed with too many options. Though there are many advantages to the player such as the beautiful OLED screen, the variety of codec the player can handle, and the flash player (there really is not use to it though as no games are included.

Sony X-Series Walkman (16GB) - best available itouch competitor at $267 for the 16GB and 32GB for the $399

Sony is as experienced as Apple when it comes to audio players. The Sony Walkman was once synonymous with music just as the iPod is today. Sony has presented the world with one of the only players that comes with a 3 inch OLED touch screen, wifi, digital noise cancelling features, web browser, and applications for Slacker and Youtube. The player will come in 16GB and 32 GB options. The X-Series player has received great reviews on its touch screen interface and its audio quality as being the best in the touch screen category.

Zii EGG- ????? Could be the "iPod touch Killer"

It's been a long time since we heard anything from the Audio giant and formerly the iPod's toughest competitor, Creative. Well, it appears as if it has been worth the wait.

The device is called the Zii Egg. The hardware itself is extremely impressive, with front (video conferencing camera) and rear facing cameras, HD playback, and 1080p video output.

It also has OpenGL ES support, X-Fi audio processing, 32GB of built-in memory and regular SD card slot. Other features include WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and a 3-axis accelerometer.

The 320 x 480 screen is just as good as the itouch if not better. But the real killer feature is the touch screen with 10-point multitouch capacitive input

The rumour is that it is Synaptics' new ClearPad 3000. Even if that is not the case, the touch screen will even then be at the very least just as responsive as Apple's. The dual "Plazma" and Android interface is certainly more than just ordinary and will certainly encourage developers to adopt this device.

Samsung P3- To be released this year in USA at $150 for 8GB and $200 for 16GB

Samsung has obviously learned a lot from its experience with the Samsung P3. The user interface is very unique with the inclusion of widgets on your home screen. These widgets can do anything from slideshows to useless gingerbread men that crumble when you touch it. The screen is just as good as the itouch in colour and clarity and the video and audio quality seems to be better that the Itouch according to critics. The main benefit of the player is the plethora of features that it has such as an FM player, sketch, games, and a flash player that can play flash games.

Zune HD - To be released in November

There is not much that we know about the player. Critics that have used the player have said the screen is truly the best in the touch screen category and the interface rivals the itouch.
We can however assume that the player will have great applications and games just like the itouch as it is produced by software giant, Microsoft.