[yuhui]

This thought just came to me one day, so please excuse me if it's rough around the edges.

Following the debut of the iPod, I *knew* that there was absolutely no way I was going to buy it for $400 when I can get a Sony Clie PEG-760C for slightly more with a picture viewer, movie viewer and MP3 player. On the other hand, how many songs can I store on an expensive Memory Stick?

So I thought, how about combining the best features of a Palm PDA and the iPod? For instance:
- 5GB hard disk
- Palm OS 4.0 or whatever it is now
- picture viewer, movie viewer, MP3 player
- Firewire interface
- iPod's jog-dial, regular ol' Palm PDA buttons, Graffiti

On the other hand, it seems really difficult to build this. Actually, I think if someone has the smarts, he/she can rip the Palm OS from any PDA's firmware, transplant it to the iPod's hard disk, write a disk driver for the 5GB disk and that *should* be good to go. Oh, you'd have to replace the LCD screen too. Then you'd need to design your own Firewire-to-USB interface to sync with the PDA's base station. Ok, it sounds more difficult than it's worth. On the other hand, you'd lose the iPod's software, but now you'd have a freakin' 5GB Palm PDA!

Am I dreaming? Or can someone make this a reality? I'm sure a 5GB Palm PDA would take off if it includes some good software like an MP3 player.

[Jeffrey P. Kempster]

I had similiar thoughts. I am a palm user and would like to buy something new. But, currently nothing is very exciting. I truely believe that the 5GB drive will be in a pda in the next year. That would make a very useful tool. It could have backups, mp3s, pictures, videos, storage, date book stuff. You wouldn't need to have expensive media cards. It should have a firewire port like the iPod. I hope it has an Apple logo on the front, but I'm convinced that will never happen.

I would buy such a thing instantly as long as it worked with my office PC and my home Macs. I could also justify a hefty price due to its functionality.