Reminds me of this, and well, this.

327 fucking dollars for a 2 gig nano!?@#$! SWEET AND SALTY FUCKJUICE ON MY MOTHERFUCKING TOAST!! JESUS!

Uhm, yeah. That's making the sum total of 90+ bucks I spent on a no-name 1GB media player (with more features/support) and an external 2GB card looking mighty smart.

Granted, the software and interface will slowly drive you insane, and it is only through superior nerd skills that I love it, but the hardware is quite servicable, and the sound seems to actually better than anything I've heard from an iPod, which I've never been all that impressed with.

You don't understand, loquacious...

In United States of Apple, YOU are supposed to impress the iPod.

Oh, right.

*shoves nano up bum*

Can you hear me now?

Sorry. Don't let me dissuade you from not getting an iPod. It's just that I don't like 'em for the same reason I don't like Apple computers - too expensive, too simple out of the box, too locked away from my prying, nerdly little fingers.

Because of their fine support, good software and ease of use, they're a fine choice for most folks. Me? I don't think I can stand paying that much for the features it does have. Granted - excellent design. Not world class, but not everything can be. Much better industrial and software design than my little player.

But the feature set for iPods is drastically lagging behind. There are quite a few microportable players that now include things like being able to record high quality audio or video right on the player. Bigger, better screens and more storage for much less money, so on and so forth. And, heck, I can replace the battery on mine, is uses an industry-standard miniUSB and I can charge it or dock it practically anywhere.

I guess this means I should've told my brother to get me one from Ireland when he comes here.
Although, 16 dollars ain't that much--it'd be even better if he could make it to Switzerland and get me one from there... sends telepathic radio waves across the ocean.

I started reading this thread and then thought it was high time I got a bigger MP3 player. Because 20GB just doesn't cut it anymore. And now I've bought a 60 GB Creative Vision:M.

So seanyboy has just cost 200 quid.

* shakes fist at seanyboy *

mwah ha ha hah!

I got an 8 GB nano for xmas, and while it doesn't hold much of my music, I like it that way. Forces me to go through my music library every so often.

Is 8GB still the largest flash-based player available?

An appreciable difference in the prices may be attributable to duty. If the prices include VAT that would almost completely explain it. Looks like the duty and other import assessments for Brazil not including VAT is something around 50% for example.