What could be better than an iPod?

I'm looking for a compact portable mp3 player with plenty of storage and decent organizing.  Something to use with a whole MP3 library.  Something with good battery life that isn't too bulky.  Any suggestions?

I think the Ipod is a total waste of money for a portable mp3 player. One of the most important things a portable device must have is long battery life. unfortunately, it doesn't have that. To top it off, it's supposed to be a portable sound device but lacks sound quality that the Zens and Carbons have, which are cheaper and contain 2-3 times more space on the same price. I've heard music from an iPod before, to tell you the truth, the music sounds flat. I don't know if it was his .mp3's bitrate (which most likely isn't), but it was flat. Makes me wonder why they dance so much on commercials with them.

The only thing I like about the iPod is the circle touch-pad navigation, very useful for navigating through a large library. Everything else is bad to me. It's the best , market wise. but tech wise? definitely not.
iPod Pros:
-Navigation.
-Simple.
-Easy to use.
-Has a wide selection of accessories.
-requires no drivers to install. Just plug and play.
iPod Cons:
-The LCD bit is low and doesn't show text well, especially on eastern-asian fonts.
-Sound quality is low.
-It scratches easily.
-It's expensive
-ridiculously low battery life
-requires no drivers to install. Meaning someone can steal it and use it right away.

So you might want to consider doing some research. Personally, I prefer Zens as I own a Zen Xtra 40GB which is $250 right now. I chose this because Creative, the creators of Zen, also make the well-known Sound-Blaster cards. And it's cheaper for twice the amount of space. Only downside is the jog-wheel navigation, size, and lack of ability to organize music in folders (uses Artist, Album, and Genre information to automatically organize files).
Zen Pros:
-high sound quality
-cheaper and cost-efficient
-you can change the hard drive (only if you know how)
-easily replaceable batteries that require no screws at all.
-Long battery life. 12 hours on my Xtra, and a crazy 24 hours on the new Zen Touch.
-uses an aluminum casing. Hardly gets scratches.
-Higher bit on LCD and can display text better than an iPod.
Zen Cons:
-definetly the size
-Weight
-navigation
-firmware is buggy on new models such as the Zen Micro
-lack of accessories
-lacks the ability to organize music.

If you want more info, go to nomadness.net. Yeah, these guys are Creative-based, but they have a lot of information on other players too, such as Carbons, Karmas, etc. etc. in their forums. Go look for topics that compare players. You can also go to ipodlounge.com, but most of the forum is composed of ‘I luv my iPod’ or ‘help on my iPod!’ topics.