The comparison between iPOD and HI-MD is totally irrelevant. Instead, why not compare the HI-MD to an HDMP3 player that RECORDS, like the iRiver H320 (www.iriveramerica.com)? I'm in a really tough dilemma about which machine I should buy - the sony 910 or the iriver 320. Can you guys help me answering those questions: 1. I have a sony condenser T-mic that I used on an old Minidisc machine. Will it work only on sony minidiscs (the only machines that give plug-in-power to the mic) or on the iRiver too? 2. the sony "Sonicstage" software works only on PC!!!!! No mac support!!!!!!!!!! My main usage is microphone recording. Is there another way to transfer the recorded files into the computer without using sonicstage, since I have a Mac? Having those two questions answered, my choice would be a lot easier. Unless the answer to the two questions is No, which means there's no descent machine in the universe that could fit my needs!