I think that these days most everyone seems to own an iPod - so which do you own? I'd be interested to know if anyone has bought any of the competing brands, and what they think of them too :)
Personally I own a silver 4g iPod Mini. The back is engraved with "Prius frangitur quam flectitur".
I have the old school 3G 10gig =) Before all the funcy computerised screens and click wheels came out! But now I just use the iriver my boy got me for my birthday because it hangs around my neck and I'm really really lazy. The battery life kills the iPod. I still do love it, but the fact that its battery life has dwindled to a measly 4hours makes it difficult to carry around on trips. I've really sacrificed space though because the iriver only has 512mb as opposed to 10gig but I guess it's analogous to carrying around your entire music collection and ending up only listening to really one album anyway. I find I don't really miss the huge choice I had before.
I think the sound quality is fine, my Nano is the perfect size, and who cares about the battery - they'll last at least a year and by that time you'll want to upgrade anyways. On top of that, if you're worried about $200, get the extended warranty and smash it up when it goes bad and go get a new one.