Yup, too bad in the store you can't load all your music on them, then you would see a big part of the reason the iPod is so popular. It's all about the (scroll) wheel baby! The Dells roller wheel is akin to scrolling through a HUGE Excel document with only your scroll wheel mouse, and the Zen isn't bad, but just the same it's slide, pick up your finger and put it at the top of the touch pad, slide, pick up finger, slide, etc. With the iPod it's just circle circle circle circle, and of course the firmware and touch-pad work together so a slow-circle moves you with 1-item accuracy, and a very fast circle can jump you from the top to the bottom of the list in no time flat. It's very intuitive, and hard to explain, because they've put enough thought into it that you don't have to.
I just got an iTrip today (From another CPFer actually) and it seems to work great so far! If accessories are your thing than the iPod is your thing, there are more accessories designed *just* for it than any other player I do believe.
Those who state that an iPod is just a fashon statement over any other MP3 player obviously don't own one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
About hard drive damage, I hear a lot of people say it's a problem, and it does happen to people (Google it up) but (Other than accounts read on the internet) I have not run across anybody personally who has had hard drive damage with their iPod. Yeah flash based memory is more rugged, but these microdrives are built pretty solid -- all things considered.
I'd rather carry a player with "B+" (At *worst*) shock protection over buying one with "A+" shock protection that never got carried due to the bulk. All the protection in the world is of no use if you don't use the thing.