Techweenie,
Ok, I should have said no user-replaceable battery that doesn't void warranty, and doesn't require a special tool. Happy? Bottom line, iPods suck in the battery department.
MP3 is great but is seriously dated. The Motion Pictures Expert Group received the patent for MP3 in 1989, and had been working on it since 1987; Dinosaur technology by hi-tech standards. Using wma for comparison; to get CD quality audio in an mp3 file you need to encode at a minimum of 128kbps, to get the same CD quality audio from wmv you only need to encode at 64kbps. This means you can effectively fit twice the music, of the same quality on your mp3 player.
Buying a stupid clip-on FM tuner ... gimme a break. The point is that it should be integrated.
"Who cares what it costs, wwweeeee!", yep sounds like a marketing guy. (Sorry couldn't resist).
"Whole balanced, package"? I think I have outlined why the iPod is not a "Whole balanced, package". I give Apple credit in many areas, including defining what a mp3 players interface should functionally be. However, they no longer are the only player w/ a proper interface for quickly perusing gigs of data. Have a look at the many number of players that have essentially duplicated the iPod interface (see the Creative offerings for example). And the ability of many other players to be mounted as an external storage device is the way data should be added or removed from an mp3 player, not through a proprietary interface (iTunes).
With the capacity of players today I can see the logic for adding video functionality, that and the fact that so many other players have already offered video on their players I'm not surprised that Apple has added it to theirs.
http://www.ifilm.com and the like seem to be where the ultra indy / budget filmakers will find their audience. Why would you download an entire movie, then transfer the monsterous file to your iPod w/ it's tiny screen when you could have just watched the stream while you were on your computer in the first place.
Is the iPod the only player you have used / owned?