Again, horses for courses.
But we do seem to get stuck with this hyporbole by fans of all players.
i-pod + i-tunes. Good? Certainly. The best? Possibly. So much better that everything else is pre-historic? No.
Someone made a similar point, earlier (in favour of the i-pod over the Sony) that, whilst the Sony is lighter, there's not a lot in it, and that the odd 20g or so doesn't make much difference.
Totally agree.
And yet when I bought my Zen, I had flocks of i-pod owners telling me it was a few grams heavier than the i-pod, and that it was subsequently a bad choice!
The truth is, weight, size, sound quality, usability, there really isn't a lot in it.
i-pods are great. Creatives are great. Sonys are great. Rios are great.
I never see anyone with an i-pod crying because it's heavier than the Sony, or with a Zen, gnashing their teeth 'cos it's bigger than an i-pod.
If you see some cheap & nasty thing you've never heard of, beware.
But if you see a decent, known brand, just look up a few reviews, find out a few facts, and look at what you can afford.
You won't get any of the above brands making machines that sound abysmal, are awful to control, or way as much as a brick, when compared to the competition. One might be a bit better than the others, but there really won't be much in it.
You WILL get some that are more/less trendy & more/less expensive, and that's what you really have to judge for yourself.
And then there's this i-pod battery argument. Might be a problem, might not. But you hear people complaining, and you see the press. You believe the stories, or you don't. The risk is yours.
Steve W