I have ZERO interest in using Amazon MP3, the iTunes store or Zune Marketplace. For that reason I'm not too worried about any Apple DRM issues. I intent to use the device solely as a means to carry around a significant chunk of music without moving CDs from the car to the house and back constantly. I only intent to copy music from CDs that I own to the device in a lossless format.

Raptor,
Thank you very much for the link to the story. Kind of confirms a lot of what I was hearing about bypassing the iPod's junky D/A converters.

A.F.L.M.,
I was wondering about the possibility of mechanical noise off the HDD based units myself. I'll have to dig a little deaper into my high capacity solid state options like SDHC vs. the solid state players like the 64 Gb Touch.
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"There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother." -Theodore Roosevelt