First up for the list of the iPod Touch alternatives, the M:Robe certainly is nothing new to the game. I’ve wondered to myself why I haven’t heard more about the Olympus M:Robe 500i, I now realize that it is because the M:Robe 500i isn’t being sold by Olympus anymore! What a shame, I think to myself – it certainly is a jack of all trades.

The M:Robe 500i features a 3.7″ display, completely touch-compatible, as opposed to the iPod Touch’s 3.5″ widescreen, crisper-looking display. It’s got a 20GB hard drive, whereas the iPod Touch ranges from 8GB, 16GB, and now 32GB flash drives, which are considerably faster than the hard drive. The M:Robe 500i can play music and photos, but it can’t play videos! Galling, but true. Thanks to the early development of the M:Robe 500i (we’re looking at the iPod Photo days), it’s still stuck with just photo and music compatibility. It definitely does not compare to the iPod Touch in these aspects. So what’s it’s killer feature?

The camera. Yep, the M:Robe 500i features a 1.3MP camera; this was in the age when camera phones were just catching on, so imagine how useful it would’ve been (and still can be). Does your average iPod Touch have a camera? Nope – nor will it ever, I’m afraid.

Asides from that, the iPod Touch definitely dominates the Olympus M:Robe 500i, so we won’t be able to find a competitor here. It’s got a nicer screen, more applications, more features, and faster hard drive speeds with higher capacities. Not to mention it’s an iPod, so it just happens to always be able to get along with consumers very quickly.

Er, I’ll also have to reinforce the fact that the M:Robe 500i isn’t exactly available anymore. So what’s next?

Other iPod Touch Alternatives:

1. Olympus M:Robe 500i
2. Archos 605 Wi-fi
3. Cowon Q5W
4. Archos 706
5. Samsung P2

Runner Ups:

• Cowon iAudio X7
• iRiver Clix 2
• Microsoft Zune