[symphonix]

I like the styling: a perfect match for most of the Macs in the lineup, especially the iBook. And I like the name, which sounds delightfully cheesy-B-movie-flash-gordon-scifi.
I like the idea of making it double as a Firewire hard disk.
I'd be curious to see if it recharges off the Firewire port (which would save having another cable around) and if the new iTunes allows you to store your songs to it and remove them from your hard-disk, as opposed to just mirroring your music directory. I regret that they've left out the sound-input functionality, though, but I have yet to see ANY portable media-player that does this effectively.

The only product out there that comes close to it is the Creative Nomad Jukebox, which costs noticeably more, and has only a USB connection and is much, much bigger. Yes, iPod is expensive, and will wind up on my "christmas wishlist", but it is better value than the other MP3 players out there.

I recently bought a Nomad IIc (Clearance at the Apple shop, I guess they knew what was coming!) and was extremely disappointed with the sound quality. Plus, of course, it uses only conventional batteries. And the sound input is dead useless for making memos. You should be able to just hit a record button, and voila! Instead, it's 'menu -> voice -> record -> Start' which is an utter waste of time!