I agree with TheSloth, I think the iPod is a fine piece of hardware and a pretty damn good source for the money. I went completely portable recently, mostly because I couldn't find any particular reason to keep a home system that I just wasn't using. I only use the iPod headphone jack to my etymotic er4p's, and sure it's not the greatest thing in the world, but it works and works pretty damn well enough for me to still enjoy my music.