Stephi and I now have two 2GB iPod Nanos, plus two new cell phones. Both came for free (!) with our new cell phone contracts (which really aren't that expensive).

And I am now going to blast you with Apple propaganda, you might want to hold on to something. I know I'm a little late in noticing it - seeing as how iPod's been out for a few years now.

iPod Nano is my favorite toy of all times. Yes, even "more favorite" than my favorite computer game (Half-Life 2), my favorite board game (Siedler), or my currently favorite video game (Mario Kart DS). Nano is hawesome-with-an-h.

I now have like 350 songs on there, plus 15 teachings and all the Psalms and Proverbs as read by Mr. S.L. Ovoice. I also have like around 500 photos, including a bunch of fun "scrub" animations (to be found here).

It's perfect for waking up in the morning: I simply turn on its alarm and turn up the volume and place the headphones on my nightstand. They're loud enough to easily wake me up the next morning, so then I turn down the volume a bit, listen to a few Switchfoot songs and I'm awake!

It's perfect for listening to books or teachings (like JR Woodward or Mark Darling), because you can easily fast-forward through the entire teaching with the click-wheel, plus Nano remembers where you left off last, even if you listen to other stuff.

It's perfect for listening to new stuff: Buy a new song on iTunes for $1, put it on your iPod, listen - instant gratification. Woohoo.

It's perfect for using as a "little" USB stick - I have roughly 500MB left on mine for anything I want to transport around. That's a nice size, you can get a whole bunch into 500 MB.

It's perfect for listening to podcasts, little mini radio shows that everyone seems to be doing - hey, even I'm thinking about doing a little podcast some day.

Plus, Nano is so small it easily fits anywhere. And I mean small. I can hide it inside my hand, it's smaller and thinner than a deck of cards.

Only real downer so far:
Battery life is maybe 4-6 hours if you play around with it a lot (as I have). If all you do is listen to music with using the backlight, it's probably more like 8-10 hours. But it recharges super-quick.

So, would I pay $200 to buy one? Uh...no. But I'd pay $150 maybe, which is a LOT for a music toy. :)