I had an Ipod mini for a while, then moved onto the Creative Vision:M.. The one thing that I miss from apple is the click wheel.. I haven't found another mp3 player that was as easy to control.. other than that, I believe Ipods are a bit overrated..
Anyways, I would take a look at the Sansa e260 player from Sandisk.. Has upgradable memory too.. think its miniSD card tho.. great option if you are just looking for a music player, it has video capability too (but not so great).. Prices are dropping on it from what Ive seen lately.. It was $220 when I was shopping 2 months ago, now its under $150 in some places..
Review:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/01/s...a-e260-review/
Here's a deal for it (but its currently sold out):
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthr...97255&t=339896
More prices:
http://inktomi-cnet.com.com/SanDisk_...GB%29&tag=feed