I have had so many MP3 players in my life and also the third iPod I own. Here are my opinions about this one:

Everyone knows how GREAT the ipod is, so I'm going to tell you the real stuff as it is:

The sound quility of this player is ranked 8/10 compared to the iRiver players with Philips decoding chip. (iPods uses PortalPlayer chips) This can be a great drawback for pro music lovers, but otherwise it is not bad.

Becareful if you own a PC and a MAC, you can't use your iPod on both systems at the same time, which means you'll have to erase all your music before plugging it into a PC when you have Mac Core installed, or the other way around. This is a drawback for me, but if you only own PCs, you should be fine.

The iPod does not have a personalized Equilizer, which means you have to select from the presets. There are a lot of presets, but I still prefer a adjustable Equilizer.

The video playing feature is not so amazing to me because the battery runs out way too fast, even for a 2 hour movie. So if you are going on a international air trip with your iPod, you'd better have an external battery pack (bulky and expensive)

There is so much more, but here I'm only going to tell you two more things. The iPod has an radio feature but you need an extra $50 dollars to use it, you need to buy an attachment (The Radio Remote)... When you buy your iPod, make sure you also grab a charger, because you wouldn't want to start drawing power out of your notebook computer on a business trip....

I recommend this player because it is only $300 retail for a lot of features, and you may get it for a lot less on eBay! So happy eBaying!!