The reality is that there will be something within even the next 3-6 months which will probably give everything currently on the market a run for the money.
Things don't move that fast in audio, I reckon.
Sony PCM-D50 has been selling for 2+ years. I didn't see anything outshining it at the price when I decided to purchase it approximately 1.5 years after it was released.
There are always new models out but rarely do you get something a leap over what came before in the same price range, especially at sub-USD$300 like this.
Portable recording (and playback) done well is much harder to get right. Just like making a good instrument versus an average one. After using the PCM-M10, like
earmonger mentioned, my wish list is pretty small.
It's the competition that must play catch-up at this price point from what I can tell. Improvement in multiple areas to make it worth buying over something else.
I'd be very surprised the competition does
most things better in 3-6 months let alone 2 years
at the price in a unit of this size or less. To me it's the clear leader in this price range. Yes, you still might get one or two great things in the competition, but over-all, it's the leader. My wants are a good balance of both Recording and Playback (Walkman-style), so again this wins (even though it doesn't go to the level of MiniDisc for Playback modes and other things just yet).
A guilty pleasure of mine is making far more use of Key Control than any sane person should, though. I'm hooked to the point where I don't want to buy anything without it (and this is quite apart from Sony's audio and design expertise making this a very fine unit).