Need a high-capacity, high-quality MP3 player. Is the Cowon X7 prone to bricking?

[throwaway123]

I'm not a hardcore audiophile - I'll listen to 320kbps MP3 as well as FLAC - but sound quality is very important to me. I also have a large music library - more than 100GB last time I checked, and it's certainly grown since.

Naturally, the Cowon X7 appealed to me - I've heard its audio quality is top-notch, the EQ abilities are fascinating, and they're one of the few companies that still makes 100GB+ MP3 players. That said, I've heard some complaints that make me hesitant to buy one. Namely:

- Does the battery die if the player dies? I'd never do this intentionally, but it might happen accidentally. If anyone can debunk (or corroborate) this it'd be appreciated.
- Is it glitchy? I've heard reports of it bricking or freezing, especially when uploading large amounts of files. I've heard sometimes the player fails to recognize the music on it.
- Is the interface that bad? I've heard the resistant touchscreen is unresponsive and playlists are hard to manage (though I've also heard you figure it out after a while).
- Do you have issues with your tags? I keep my music well-tagged, so I don't think this will be a problem for me, but it'd be nice not to have to re-tag 10,000+ songs.

If you own(ed) a Cowon X7 and can shed light on any of these complaints, or can tell me about any other problems you've had with interface or glitches or bricking, let me know. I wouldn't want to have to ship all the way to Korea to get my bricked player fixed.

If you can recommend another player, here are my preferences:

- Sound quality: as good as possible.
- Capacity: at least 100GB would be great, ideally more. I can do ~60GB, but would prefer not to.
- Battery life: At least 5 hours. 10+ would be better. I'm not too picky about this, but I don't want something that's going to die during my daily commute.
- Size: It doesn't have to be tiny, but I'd like for it to be able to fit in a jeans or jacket pocket.
- Price: $300 USD or under would be ideal.
- Location: North America.
- Extra features: I'd like an alarm, an external speaker, and a microphone. I don't need apps or Wi-fi or radio or a camera or even video or photo support. None of these things are deal-breakers.
- Native support for FLAC is nice (another reason I was considering the X7).
- Gapless playback is nice, but not a deal-breaker.
- I prefer devices with actual buttons over touch-only interfaces (but again, I was considering the X7 so this isn't a big sticking point).

I use Windows XP, though I might be getting a laptop with Windows 7 soon, so no concern if the player isn't Mac-friendly. I tag everything with ID3-TagIT, though some of my tags come from ExactAudioCopy, and I use foobar2000 to play music (not iTunes or WMP or anything). I keep all my music relatively well-organized by artist/album - I don't just dump it all in My Music like some people. I don't know if any of that is relevant, but I thought I should mention it just in case.

Thanks a bunch.

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