Hmm.... well I was reading the reviews, and considering what seems to be currently available, the CC Witness seems to be the "lesser of the evils". However, there are some things tha I personally can't get over. The lack of playlist (M3U) and ID3 tag support is not good, for one thing. Also, lack of a record level control is inexcusable, although I don't know if my uncle, who would be using this and wants one (mp3 player and AM radio - may or may not be the CCW) for his birthday coming up the end of this month, would be using the record feature. He mainly wants to listen to audio files he loads on there, and listen to the radio during his lunch break, so I want to point him to a pocket-sized, reasonably-priced product that blows away the competition for how well it does those two things.
As for the radio, considering he lives in the same general metro area I do, and will be doing most of his listening in the daytime, I would want it to have a good radio... and based on what I'm reading about the CCW, I don't think it's good enough for me to recommend it. For example, I would at least expect to be able to hear usable audio from a 100-watt station on 530 that's 100 miles away or a 500-watt on 1290 that's 200 miles away without any splatter from a non-IBOC 50kW station 1 mile and 10kHz away. My PL-380, while it's sensitive enough to pull in that DX, is definitely not selective / overload rejecting enough to do it next to a strong signal. For example, I'm 9 miles from a 50kW on 1170, and there's no trace of a 50kW on 1180 that's about 230 miles away (and on the other side of the Tehachapi Mountains). At least I'm not trying to find something for my grandma in L.A. to listen to stations on 1100, 1107, 1116, 1120, 1290, 1296, 1305, 1310, 1420, 1431 or 1440 with, though - she lives 1/3 mile from a 23kW on 1300 and a 50kW on 1430, and less than 5 miles from a 50kW IBOC on 1110.

I haven't asked if my uncle would be willing to consider two separate devices (one for mp3 and the other for AM radio). Are there any that you all would recommend whose combined price is no higher than the CCW (preferably much cheaper - he was considering the DE1123 but didn't like the fact that it only had 2GB memory), and combined size is small enough for BOTH to fit in a pocket, with good enough shielding on the mp3 player to not bleed through the radio even when he's listening to a station that the 7.5" loopstick PL-380 can't hear? He may not be the DXer I am, BTW, but I still think the radio he gets should be a good one so the stations he does listen to don't have interference issues.

Any recommendations? Should I suggest the Witness even though I personally think it would turn out to be a piece of , or is there a better solution?