The new Sony NWZ-E354 (8 GB) and NWZ-E355 (16 GB) players look very nice. Battery life is listed as being 50 hours(perhaps real usage battery life might be closer to 40 hours though?) They have a separate area for podcasts, and variable speed playback with automatic pitch correction from half to double speed(just in certain increments though, not continuously adjustable). The player has a standard mini usb connector. The E354 is easy to find now, but the 16 GB E355 is much newer and much harder to find. The E354 is around $70-80, while I guess the E355 might be around $100-110. Since this player doesn't have a card slot, paying up to $30 more for the 16 GB rather than the 8 Gb one seems well worth it. I may get one of these since the long battery life and variable speed playback with automatic pitch correction really excites me. I listen to many podcasts, and when the speaker is speaking slowly, these are best listened to at 1.5x normal speed.