New iPod Nano, alternatives?

[JCBeastie]

I have to say that despite my hatred for all things Apple (style over substance) the new iPod looks amazing, the alloy body feels sturdy, it's sleek and compact and the UI is simple and easy to use. Now AFAIK you can't use iPods without iTunes (if I'm wrong then I'm having one!), I am NEVER going to install that crud on my PC tyvm.

Now what I'm looking for is a PMP with similar aesthetics (metal would be nice, plastic is meh) but with decent file support and the ability to play stuff that I can just drag and drop onto the memory from Windows. I hate proprietary software and I will not use it!

The Zune HD looks very nice, but I'm not sure if it works without the Zune software (and possibly subscription??), I've heard good things about the new Sony and Cowon players but they appear to be all plastic so that's a turn off.

I'm no audiophile, my collection's mostly @ 192kbps, so doesn't have to be stellar sound quality, but ease of use (maybe not so much ease as well designed UI) and a nice compact sturdy frame are what I'm after...

Suggestions?

 

[Tomsk]

AFAIK the Zune requires it's own software to manage. I don't think there are any alternatives. No subscription is needed.

 

[manic_man]

I have owned a 3G iPod Nano for about 3 years now, it hasn't gone wrong yet, I get around the same out of the battery as i did when it was new, and I don't use iTunes

You can manage your iPod with quite a few pieces of 3rd party software, but personally I use Winamp. It just shows up in Winamp as a portable device, you can delete from it and you can upload to it by just right clicking on the media in your library and selecting the iPod as the destination. It works flawlessly.

I do have iTunes installed, but only to run every few months as its the only way of checking for new firmwares. But with a little fettling you can get rid of all of Apples bloatware, auto updater, bonjour, etc etc.

Some say that Sonys range is better, but personally I prefer the iPod as a device. I say go for it