I don't have anything against eBay, but I too have heard horror stories about it. You just have to be careful when you buy things online (especially when it comes to bidding).

The two sites that Brian gave are pretty good. I checked out the prices on eBay and they are a little lower. My suggestion is to buy from a power seller that has great feedback (anything above 99% is good).

i would buy from a refurbished dealer with a good rating. one who spells out clearly what their policy is on the standard of the used items they sell, and their replacement policy. most have at least a month warranty, which should be enough time if something will go wrong. you can get something for less than half price there. check out www.pricewatch.com
there you can find some of the best prices for almost any hardware you can think of.

Ebay is fine, aslong as you check out everything in the auction and everything about the seller...

In the auction remember to check the postage price, and the description for small print...

the sellers are usually okay, just check their feedback and on what items did they get this feedback...

I think that if you are going to buy the mini, minus well go with the 20 gig. It's only 50 dollars for and you get 16 more gigabytes. I got one for my graduation and I feel inlove with it. It is definitly worth your money.

I beg to differ, Ive had and ipod 40 gig which was way too big for me to fill up with music I actually listen to, So I returned it, saved some money and got a 20 gig, which is perfect for me, I could care less about Ipod photos, I'll use a digital camera for photos, but I do fancy the new ipod mini, especially the 6 gig. 1500 songs and 18 hours of battery life in such a small device, and the ipod mini just has such a beautifull design. No one has been able to beat the design of the ipod yet (at least in most people's eyes). I personally love Itunes and Ipods, Some competitos will offer less expensive mp3 players with the same amount of disk space, but they have various problems of thier own, The only big problem for most ipods so far is the battery life, Which by the way can be replaced at your local Mac store or online for less than $20. Hope my experience's have helped.

I don't think there is any problem in using ebay! I buy/sell stuff on there all the time! Just as long as there is alot of good feedback and using paypal there should be nothing to worry about! Ebay has saved me outta a few jams where I needed some quick money

The e-bay issue:
My first tech purchase there: a cell phone. It only answered calls half the time.

I have a friend who bought a piece of music hardware that was never delivered.

I bought a Netgear wireless card for $50 under retail. It works wonderfully.

Answer: Stay away from sellers without small business setups and return guarantees (as far as tech items).

The IPOD:
Are you married to Apple? If you don't mind jumping ship, CREATIV makes a player with a 40 G HD that can be used as an external HD on top of an MP3 player for the same price as the 4 G IPOD. Dell OEM's it, I believe, if you'd rather purchase through them. Further, the non-IPOD players are compatible with Napster and Real services for monthly music membership, the direction I'm looking at going.

I'm a regretful IPOD owner, to give you my perspective.

I hear the ipod from china is a imitation of the real ipod... Its very similar and its much cheaper... apparently it has a very slick design just like the ipod and many features similar...

Obviously with everything online... theres no guarantees... So my suggestion is relax and chill for awhile and see if that seller gains any positive feedbacks... once you see and feel comfortable with the amounht of positive feedbacks the seller obtained... Then go ahead and do it... Theres always people out there who would blindly bid for something and not caring about trusting the seller or not....

Hope that helpes.....

Chin chin....

I can tell you for sure that there will not be a $40 iPod in any country in the world.

Contary to popular belief, actually electronic products are more expensive to buy in China than in most countries in the world, and this is because the government don't want people communicating as much and there are very high taxes especially on electronics.

A typical CD player will cost about twice as much in China than here in United Kingdom.

in mauritius here its like $100 - didnt check its specifications.. i'm thinking to taking one soon.
is there any specific feature that is important in buying it? like space, etc?