We just bought an Ipod shuffle for the better half. She loves it so far, uses it at the gym. For the money ($99) I doubt that it is a good deal but she liked the brand Apple.

I initialized it on a WinXP computer with the Itunes software. Our everyday computer runs WinME, holds our music collection ripped to MP3 files and I am using Winamp to interface to the Ipod.

It is just a memory stick with a USB port, a battery and a couple buttons for play and volume, really simple.