Topic: looking for hard drive based flac capable player to use in my car

[airbladder]

I love my x5.  Don't look any further.  A big hard drive will come in handy if you want to load it with flac's.

[Idle Wind]

I picked up a 5.5 gen Ipod Video - 60gig on ebay for like $160 shipped.  got it from the "ipod_outlet" - supposedly a store return.  the thing looks brand new.  (better than my classic, which has never left its case....)  I rockboxed it, and it plays FLACs.  I had to fool around the the rockbox "themes" to get it looking right (large font for my failing eyes, displays "album art" - really just live pictures of the artists I've selected)

definitely a viable solution.  plus you get to hack stuff....

[EarlyMorningRain]

I second this comment.

perhaps just visit the rockbox site and see which players are supported, then start doing some ebay shopping to find your best deal

FWIW - I myself use a (Rockboxed) iRiver H320 to listen/play flac's in the car.

Bear in mind though that the OP wants something to leave in the car. Curious where you live though, seeing as I live in the (already) COLD Midwest, I wouldn't leave my player/recorder in the car all day long...........

[sunjan]

I'm really looking for a cheap/used item to leave in the car.  The used ipod prices are a bit high for my needs - there are cheaper devices I can rockbox.

OK, here's the cheapest player for you...

Like said, Rockbox has a great overview/shopping guide, listing all models and specs:
http://www.rockbox.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/BuyersGuide

If you are willing to settle for 30-40GB, the Toshiba Gigabeat F40 will cost you around $45 with a bit of sniping on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250328410877

Like others mentioned, it's possible to pick up a low-end player and upsize it, but it's probably not worthwhile, considering your budget.
A 60GB HDD will cost you another $40 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170283037164)  while a 60GB Ipod can be had for $50-$60 if you don't mind the scuffs!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270306346764

When researching Rockbox, also note that some of the older units (Archos) won't play FLAC, because of hardware limitations.