Which mp3/mp4 player to buy?

[rjh]

I've got an Archos AV500 30 GB unit that I've been using for 5 or 6 years now, and it's worked great! I'm starting to get more MP4 encoded videos that I'd like to watch with the more recent move to H.264 and away from DivX/xvid, so it seems like a good time to upgrade.

I'd like something similar to what I've got - at least 20G of storage preferably, with a nice leather flip up case - I tuck the "cover" of it behind the tray table while flying and have my own personal TV there in front of me, so I don't have to hold on to the player, which is nice.

It needs to play the older DivX/xvid format, as well as the newer MPEG-4 containers (H.264, AAC, AC-3 encoded audio, etc).

I was thinking about an iPad + VLC, but my Archos has been very good to me. I don't need internet/email or anything else. All I use it for is video playback. I don't even use it to record.

What's my best upgrade path here?

Thanks,
Rich

[viking]

Dunno, but it seems almost any gen 8 or 9 archos or gen 2 arnova can step up to your needs of playing most any format in excess of 20gb. Besides builtin and optional decoders, the free mx player app plays almost anything using software decode mode. And you hardly need the optional disks because the microsd slots handle 32 and sometimes 64gb cards. If nobody has a suggestion, you can scan the tech spec pages on archos.com or arnovatech.com. archos often has kickstands builtin too. Ps maybe the 5ob without mx player in the archos vision category might work too?