I'm not being a corporate whore, I just think the Nano is the best as far as transporting. Thanks all for your input.
Fuck, I really didn't feel like shopping around, but that's why I asked. So again, thank you for curbing my "gotta get it now" compulsion.

p.s. I know most everyting about audio compression, and though I appreciate the informative posts, rest assured I am a 192+ HQ or HQ VBR encoder.

I've still only got a portable mini-disc player. 5 hours of music in one place strangely seems to be all I need.

gross generalisation but hey you are allowed to opine

iriver is a damn good brand.
lower prices and slightly better sound reproduction than ipods.
anyway,as was said in a thread on the old forum,mp3s are alla about portability.
there's no way you can hear music with an hi-fi and adeguate silence travelling on a train, so why don't go with portable mp3 players?
you can't travel or walk around bringing your record player -amplifier-6feet tall speakers.
AS was already said,just make sure you buy good headphones (sennheiser make good ones,as someone else pointed out),rip at high bitrates (do'h) and use equalization properly.

I have a 4th generation iPod. I love it. However, you should shop around first. I did and found what worked best for me.

Of course I should have put 'generally' in there somewhere. But that is what I have found. It's safe to say that the majority of portable mp3 owners have an ipod. Why? It's mostly an uneducated, ill-informed purchase. It's whats 'cool' and popular, so it has to be the best.

Anyway.

Perhaps it is so cool and popular because it is the best. Really simple: Ipods are the best, so everyone gets one. Everyone has one, so it becomes trendy.

there are lots of good headphones on the markets these days which are noise cancellation phones, these have tiny microphones on the outside of the phones and the signal is put into the phones out of phase so any outside noise is cancelled in the actual headphone, this does not account however for the size of the phone and outside noise that gets directly to your ear.

don't use equalisation because all onboard equalisation on every portable player is garbage. the studio engineer and the mastering engineer have worked their asses off to make the albums you buy sound good, don't eq them with inferior software eq's in portable players. just get good phones.

terminal pharmacy, once i risked my life walking across the rails with bull in the heather pumped on too high volume to hear the train coming....i think the "pilot" of the train (how do you call them??) supposed i was aware of it and did not brake.well,anyhow,something like 3 seconds after i walked off the rails i felt the ground shaking,i turned and i saw the train passing 2 meters away from me...from that day i tend to make "outside" noises "heardable" when i walk/bicycle around...but in a "safe" environment noise cancellation headphones are definitely a good choice...regarding equalization, i happen to love more the sound of many albums on my ipod mini using rock or electronic presets...but i think it's all about personal tastes in that case,i like to pump basses a bit...and 65daysofstatic albums are much better with the electronic preset ;) .
so,i'd suggest to start with no equalization,then check if it can help enjoying your listening experience...that's all folks!

It's all a matter of personal preference regarding EQ. One man's meat, yada, yada, yada....

nicfit, that would be a train conductor i believe

i think he meant train operator/cum driver.

he he,i oughta go back to school and learn some basic english...i'll call them "huskers on a train",end of the problem.

right on!

I have the latest 30GB black iPod, it cost me fortune,

erm,.....
the sound quality's AWESOME, it plays better than I expected
file management & features are really great
video and picture quality are also splendid (however, only .mov files are supported)
but what sucks big time is battery life! It lasts poor 4-5 hours of music play, without even turning the backlight on or doing any graphics-heavy operations (such as photos, videos or games)

erm....maybe only mine's crappy and needs treatment but it really makes me feel dissapointed about it

i have the g4 20gig and the battery lasts 8 or more hours

I've got the same, :( got stolen once in my science class, everyone knew it was him, and his mom made him pay me $400(for the ipod itself + case+ insurance) incase it was broken and i got the ipod back, wasnt messed up at all,so 400$ scored :)
my battery dies fast when i put my stuff on shuffle, but if i take it off and just listen to...one particular band whatever battery lasts me for a while,.. Im assuming you listen to stuff on shuffle..? Pretty much it wastes more cause the laser eye thingy has to move around
++ does anyone know how to get stuff onto the calender?, as in put in events etc.