Last fall, I was blathering on about PDA/phone convergance and how I'd like to have all of my small portable electronic gadgets together in one device. A sort of PDA/cellphone/mp3 player/GPS/voice recorder/pager/camera/etc.

I was sort of waiting to see where they put my office over at N-1 before biting the bullet and buying a Treo 650. Unfortunately, they put me in the one building that is behind the fence, so I can't have a cellphone (or most of that other stuff) while I'm in my office. This fact dramatically diminishes my desire to have the phone to the point where the enormous price tag makes it not worth it.

As it stands, I already have stand-alone versions of the cellphone, GPS, pager, and camera (and if you count my ancient Palm III that I never use, then technically I have a PDA too). What I don't have is an MP3 player or a voice recorder. I don't really need a voice recorder, but it would be nice for taking quick notes at random times and jotting them down later. The fact that I won't be buying a Treo any time soon has made my desire for a cheap stand-alone MP3 player somewhat accentuated.

So today I bought an iRiver iFP-799. It's a very small 1GB flash MP3/OGG player with a recorder feature (built in mic and line-in) and an FM radio tuner to boot. At 1 gig of flash, it is at the high end of solid-state MP3 players. Not as much space as a HDD-based design, but the no moving parts factor plays heavily for me as I expect to use it while mountaineering and cycling, which could subject it to some strong shocks. The reviews mention that you need an optional firmware upgrade to let the device function as a generic USB storage device, and that without that you can't download anything from the device to the computer. I'm not sure what this will mean for the voice recorder. It'll require some futzing when it shows up next week.

But the feature set kicks the pants off of the iPod shuffle (and, aside from the smaller storage capacity, most HDD MP3 players as well). I've heard great things about iRiver as a manufacturer.

This thing is going to make airline flights so much more enjoyable, and by the looks of things I might be spending a lot of time in the air this summer. Mountaineering should also benefit greatly as the music will distract me from the small agonies of climbing. Same for biking. Robin insists that this is a Bad Idea™, though others I've talked to around here say that they do it all the time because the traffic outside of town is minimal.