So I am...

I picked the iPod mini because of the over all cool factor, not to mention its ease of use. It is the simplest thing I have ever used, yet it isn't "dumbed" down. It seems pretty solid, though I have never dropped it so I don't know how it handles falls. For $250 (I got it as a gift keep in mind ;p) it seems worth it, and I haven't had any problems with it.

This has been John Outwater's 2 cents.
P.S. Silver rocks!

Its brilliant i was worried about all the problems people have had but they seem to have fixed all that coz mines great. No problems at all. I dropped it once, with my fast reflexes i went to catch it but i just ended up giving it a good whack, i had a heart attack, when i picked it up it was fine.

i got mine last year the day after it hit the market' luckily, right before it became apparent that we'd be facing a shortage.

at the time, it was the smallest hd based player in the market. none of the competitors have come out yet, so the only other choice at the time was to wait. i still went with apple, just because I had the G1 iPod and I loved the iPod-iTunes integration. I also trusted the Apple quality and simplicity.

I upgraded from G1 because of the size and added functionalities. I loved hooking the mini up to my speakers and using it as my alarm clock to wake me up in the morning with my own music. No more annoying dj's.