iPod alternative?

[Duane]

I have a trusty 'ol mini that I've been lugging around for almost four years now, and I think it's about time to upgrade. I also use linux, however, and that's my main media server—from there, I stream music and video all over the house. But if my iPod can't work/sync with it because of Apple's paranoia and resulting lockdown of various things (i.e. itunesdb, daap, etc), I'm not so sure I want an ipod that could be bricked later.

So are there any good alternatives out there that can support aac (I encode all my music in aac) AND have some semblance of syncing, without writing a script that copies my music folder over? :wacko:

Thanks in advance, Duane.

Hey, if things go badly, I'll just use an xp vmware image :|. But I'm hoping.

[igame3d]

You could always get a sexy brown Zune. :lol:

[Josh]

I'm not so sure I want an ipod...Heretic.

...some more characters...

[Duane]

:/

I now find out that the touch isn't even hard drive based.... iTunes communicates with it via MobileDevices.framework or something... grrrr.

[StealthyCoin]

Your weird. I don't even know of any other players than the iPod at this point. Other than the zune because its such an epic failure.

[diordna]

I don't think he's weird at all for wanting a digital music player that supports Linux...

[Zwilnik]

Linux is an OS engineered to go on other people's hardware. it's supposed to support the hardware, not the other way around.

[diordna]

But the fact remains that he is not strange for wanting a piece of hardware that already works with his software.

[Duane]

yes, but apple is actively stopping (http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/15/6th-gen-ipods-wont-work-with-linux-winamp/2) 3rd party apps from accessing the library.

I just want a drm-free music player. Or rather, one whose access is drm free.