I bought an Apple iPod Mini for my son (11 yrs old) for Christmas. I've heard nothing but good things. Yes, there were some issues but mostly for the older generation iPods. I took it out of the box and charged it up. I set up the pc for it and actually have loaded some of his cds onto it. I listened to it for a bit and now I WANT ONE!!
I think it's great. I'm just excited that the iPod is ready to go out of the box when he opens it on Christmas morning. He won't have to wait to charge and set it all up.