You're not stuck using iTunes with the iPod either (Anapod, Songbird (with plugin), Yamipod). Nor are you stuck with DRM as previously mentioned (no DRM on your own ripped tracks).

What it does lack is FLAC and OGG support. FLAC on a flash player right now is rather pointless (the Vibez) but in the case of an 80GB player it can easily be used.

I would steer clear of any Creative product in any category. They do not support their products. They put oout some press before it's launched, a coupld of web pages while it's being sold and then that's it. It happens over and over with all their products. Lack of updates, etc. You can get any player for exactly what it is and does at that very moment, but with an iPod you're pretty safe to assume it will be updated in some way in the near future.

I have no desire for a portable player right now - not until more in-dash head units come out with displays that match the ones of the player 1:1 in functionality and best it in size (Alpine has something interesting coming out for the iPod, but I dislike cheap Alpine stuff almost as much as Creative).

Things I would like to see in a future iPod: huge screen (the size of the entire face of the unit), WiFi, USB2.0 OTG (to connect a camera and unload its images or connect a USB mass storage device to copy files to the iPod). We'll likely see 100GB models before 2007 is done (I won't hold my breath for 100GB models in January).

I'm sure the code under the hood in the Vibez product is simply amazing, but none of the images on any of the sites linked do it much justice. No reference images next to a human hand or at least a coin or something. Very small screen with even smaller second line text. The playback UI looks very basic (5+ years old) in the sample images.

And for me, SOUP views (that's sorting and displaying by meta data) is the way to go. I don't want to have to manage folders - not to mention how rigid that setup is (sorry beloved empeg). Soup views done right (like with Slimserver/Squeezebox) is the way to go. Of course you have to support more than the most basic tags to really make it shine (like TSOP and TSOA for sorting by something other than display names, compilation tag, artist-album tag, etc..)