Search is definitely part of the new nano software. I didn't see it on their site either, but just take a look at the photos on
this guy's flickr page.
The news on the weeb is that Microsoft will be launching the Zune tomorrow at an invite-only event. Hopefully its agressive features will put some pressure on Apple to kick up the iPod. I'm hoping the current 5.5G (as it's being called) is just a stop-gap until they come to market with a larger screen version with some form of wireless connectivity (it would have to have been in development for some time and may or may not just be delayed). But of course let's see what MS' software platform does with all these reported hardware features.
I'm about to set up my entire music library in iTunes for the first time ever. I've only used iTunes here and there to play single tracks and to develop things like our remote software. I'll be using an external 250GB drive to hold the collection - hopefully I won't have any issues with the removable device. This will finally let my girlfriend do her own music management for loading/unloading her portable player. She never got into RMM with her old player. Of course we never loaded a significant amount of music onto that system either.