I agree on the some fronts. MP3 players that support a variety of other formats, including lossless, and have far better playback quality than any iPod ever did are out there.

But the last time I bought one I remember a mixed experience. On the one hand, it sounded incredible. On the other, as soon as I loaded all 9500 tracks in my library onto it, the UI ground to a halt. Storage wise I could have crammed many times the number of tracks on there but there was no way the user interface would cope.

And I had to organise it all manually on my computer in order to avoid a mess on the device.

And the sync experience absolutely sucked balls. There was nothing close to plug it in and forget about it.

So, with some regrets, I returned the device and got a refund. I still use Spotify[0] in the car, and CDs at home.

[0] Which I have a love-hate relationship with.