Last Christmas, my wife forked out and bought me a (now extinct) Silver iPod Mini. It was a great present as it allowed me to now take all those MP3s I had around with me, in the car, on holiday - even to parties. The only problem I found with it (apart from losing it too often than not) was the 4GB storage space. I love my MP3s and pretty much all my music has been converted to MP3 so when it comes to taking my music around with me, I have to prioritise and only put on my iPod the music I really like at the time.

It occurred to me not long after getting the iPod that there were loads of addons available. It suddenly dawned on me that this could be really useful for recording my live mixes when I was out and about. After hours of searching around t’Internet, it looked like my short-lived dream of a portable recording addon was over. There was nothing available so I forgot all about it.

This morning, after checking through all my mailing lists and RSS updates, I found a great new device available - the iAudio X5. This multimedia player seems to address all those issues I have with my iPod mini. Not only does it have 20GB of storage available (30GB models are also available) but it also records directly to MP3 from either the built-in FM receiver or an external line-in, perfect for recording mixes from the amp or mixer. The X5 also boasts a reasonably-sized colour screen for browsing photos and watching videos - you can even download photos from your digital camera directly to the device. The best thing about it is the cost is about the same as the iPod Photo, only £230.

Unfortunately, you can’t order direct from the Cowon website but they are available from Amazon (US & UK) as well as other outlets around the Net.

I know what I’ll be asking Santa for this Christmas (either that or I’ll just have to treat myself early next year!)