Bought it brand new Oct 2004.
It survived 10 months in South America.
Started getting temperamental on return so took it into Apple shop whilst it was just inside warranty.
It had stopped responding entirely so the Apple guy said 'sticky' hard drives were common and then smashed it down on the counter - charge end. This actually worked!

I have had more temperamental times with it since then, and sometimes it just needs a good whack on the floor and other times I have to wait for the battery to run out and recharge it before it will operate 'normally' again.

Over the last 6 months or so the battery life has noticeably got worse so that it sometimes only works for an hour or so, and other times it doesn't seem to charge unless I turn it on manually.
I'm going to buy a new battery for about GBP10 and see if it will give me a bit more time, otherwise it's a new one for me and I'll just keep this as a spare for the speakers at home.

Despite all of the above I would buy an Apple iPod again, just not this model!
What's the choice?
The competition look crap to me, iPods are great when they're working, iTunes is the most widely used for free podcasts, borrowing other people's chargers is easier as most people have one, and basically it is one of the coolest brands in the world.

The new 30GB would be more than adequate considering I haven't used more than 12GB of this one, and crucially, from what it seems the new ones are more reliable with longer battery life. The film facility on a colour screen looks ace if you travel a lot, so the extra memory space will come in useful there. They are also less bulky/heavy now.

Like a couple of the other posters have said - these things are temperamental. Mine died after 8 months, and I did get a replacement.

BUT what they replaced it with is some other busted ipod that they've "repaired". And now this is starting to act up. I have 3 months left on my warranty, and I'll be taking it back for another replacement.

If your brand new iPod dies after a week, they might replace it with a year old piece of junk they have lying around the workshop.

Avoid this manufacturer.

I've had my 40GB ipod for nearly a year now and i've had to order a replacement 4 times. Although easy-to-use and great when it's working, it's so temperamental - one minute it is working fine, next it is skipping through all my songs refusing to play any of them, and finally turning itself off and refusing to turn on again. My warranty is about to run out, and again the ipod is screwed up. I will not be buying a new warranty or ordering another free replacement - its more trouble than it's worth. I'll be looking for an alternative mp3 player.

I caught this nice little thing because it connects easy to a pioneer car stereo and it works like a charm

After having the 40GB I-pod for a year the battery has decreased to about 5 hours and the headphones broke after about 20 hours of listening. Comparing my I-pod to my friends 20GB I-pod i have to say that the 20GB is much better because of the diffrent size, the 40GB looks like a brick when you put them next to each other. Save some money and buy a 20GB.