Hey Hey,

I'm a proud supporter of iPod. I've got a 4GB iPod mini (18 hour battery life when I bought it (which was when the 6GB mini's just came out) and it still lasts pretty much the full 18 hours). I know someone that has a 2nd Gen iPod that's still going strong.. and my buddy's on his 3rd one (never had a problem, just keeps upgrading)... The thing I like the best, which makes me question jamiecar1982's links, is the durability... My iPod is always in my pocket and after around 10 months of sitting in the same pocket as my keys it has a single scratch. I've dropped it on numerous occasions, one time the headphones were caught and didn't just unplug, they pulled the iPod out of my pocket and it smashed into the ground.. It kept playing without missing a beat and had no problems... The corner it landed on is slightly dented, but it's not noticeable unless you're looking for it.

As far as the Nano's screen... Check out this review http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/ on the third page they really beat the **** outta it.

As far as the pricing... it's not really that expensive... When you consider what it does.. It displays text files... making it the ultimate study companion for a student who has to travel a long distance on the bus to and from school... (gave me lots of extra study time I wouldn't have otherwise had). It provides games, which are quite basic but still a lot of fun... It's a storage device (depending on the iPod.. you can have a lot of storage) and it plays mp3s. A 1GB USB Key (at full price in the store) is about $100 around here... my MP3 discman was $100.. That's almost your iPod right there, except you're getting a lot more. Compared with the other MP3 players on the market, I've found it to be more durable, last longer, provide more entertainment value (I know a few people who bought Zen's and curse them) and it's in the same price range.

Purchasing an iPod is definately the way to go.


Peace,
HT