sure, the vpod is great, and i have played with a friend's model but i am not enamored of the tiny screen. is it worth considering the epson (model?) or other makes?

Epson P2000 or P4000 (bigger HD) is incredible, the screen is not only bigger, but each pixel is tri-color. Makes the VidIPod look like the toy it is. If you want music, any iPod wins hands down. Yes, the P2000 does do music, but the iPod is the king of music.

BGnR

I agree the video on the P2000 looks spectacular (the Epson website had them refurbed for a good discount when I got mine).

BGnR (if you have input on this):

One annoying thing (maybe there's a remedy I'm unaware of) It seems that pics transferred to the Epson from a digital camera get their file names changed (like DSC8977 becomes EPS004, for instance); that's not cool if your default file names are relevant in your non-portable storage world. Only workaround I see is NOT using the P2000 as the dumpster for all your vacation pics so you can empty your flash cards.

One convenience issue: how do you get back to the spot in the video you were at on the P2000? Any bookmarking trick?

I hate the picture rename also, comes from its PC DOS roots, it doesn't bother me that much, but I feel your pain, you most likely keep the originals pristine which is very smart. Many folks on the DPReview Forums are much smarter about the P2000 than myself. Here you go.:
[forums.dpreview.com]

BGnR

I can't imagine it would be hard for them to patch the software in the P2000 to make it use the defaults. Hopefully they will issue a patch soon.