I just bought an iPod remote and highly recommend it for its small real estate and usage. It might not have tons of features, but for lengthy playlists and album playing, it does the job well (in addition to working out as a great way to manage the iPod in the car).

Since it plugs into the headphone and aux port and administers "signals" to operate the iPod (and assuming it's powered off the iPod), does it zap much power from the iPod? -- it probably is negligible, but I was just checking.

-Chris