I refuse to buy Apple stuff out of principle to some degree (can't stand the libs who run it) and because there are MUCH better values in MP3/Video players on the market. I love my Archos GMINI 402 portable multimedia center: 20GB hard drive, built in USB that allows me to capture the photos from everybody's digital camera BEFORE we leave the family reunion and then pipe them into a big screen TV so everybody can enjoy them on the last day of the get together. Wired it directly into my 1998 Avalon head unit for best fidelity with an adapter from Crutchfield ($60) that I custom mounted in the center console. Everything still looks factory. The Archos hooks to your computer USB port just like a flash drive. Can move music, photos and data back and forth without any extra software. Listen to business podcasts and books on trips.
http://www.archos.com/products/pc_centric/gmini_402/index.html?country=global&lang=en