i have a Creative Zen Vision, it holds 30GB and it's quite good, i got it cause i hate Apple's near monopolization of the market and Apple and Steve Jobs just annoys the hell out of me,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i22lkQg4VcY
i agree it will never replace the physical cds, records and tapes, but on the go, i am not gonna carry around several boxes of discs just so i can get the warmth, it is nice to have 5000 songs just handy on the beach (another place you don't wanna take cds), or on public transport