I really like my Archos, but the batteries only last about 3 hours. Luckily it has a second set of them, so you can go up to 6 by swapping. VERY small item too, a lot smaller than the Nomad anyway. I never looked at the ipod, no one locally had one in stock. (Don't have a Mac either).

In fact, I originally bought my Archos to - play MP3's int he car. This was weeks before the RioCar price drop. I plugged the Archos right into the back of the CD player in my car. But since I got the Empeg I don't need the Archos much anymore...

Check out everything out there. If you decide you do like the Archos (especially the 20 Gig player), let me know! I paid upper 3xx for it, would loose it for lower 2xx. Even got the extended Best Buy warranty on it. Doubles as a portable hard drive too BTW.