Complaint: the mini iPod is expensive.
Item: mini iPod. Small. Mainly ugly colours. FireWire and USB2. 4GB.
$249.
Item: Creative Nomad Muvo2. Small. Ugly. USB2. 4GB.
$299. At 14% off.
Item: iRiver iGP-100. Small. Ugly. Capable, though. USB2. 1.5GB.
$249.
Item: Rio Nitrus. Small. Ugly. USB2. 1.5GB.
$219.
Note: Apparently Rio have announced that the Nitrus is going to also be 4GB, also for $249.
I agree that the iPod mini hurts when you compare it to the iPod proper, but it doesn't hurt so badly when you compare it to its peers.
(Updated Wednesday morning with the iRiver 1.5GB player.)
Idly wandering through the vast Waterstones on Piccadilly, I saw that the BBC are now doing MP3 CDs of some of their dramas, notably the complete Hitchhiker's Guide radio series and the His Dark Materials from earlier this year.
Oddly, however, these appear to be only available at Waterstones (in the case of His Dark Materials and some of the other new stuff) and online at the BBC Shop.
Personally, I've never really got the hang of audio books; I listen to things if they're on Radio 4 and I'm about, or I miss them. I wouldn't mind the complete HHGTTG, though, and this is a handy way for them to distribute it, so I hope it works well.