[V]

I'll start by saying i have a hatred against any and all aplle products and that is why i have vowed to never purchase a mac and/or an iPod... yet now i seem to have no choice...

I would only use it to listen to my music in my car. I had planned on replacing my factory headunit with my Pioneer touchscreen USB unit but after seeing how many options and features are wired into and use my stock headunit, it seems no longer feasible to replace it. So now that i will be keeping the stock radio, i want a way to listen to my large collection of music i have saved on my hard drive/usb flash drives. After looking around, i found an option for an iPod that plugs right into the unused XM reciever i have and allows an ipod to be controlled through the factory radio along with displaying song, artist and playlist info on the stock screen. I am unable to find anything similar to that which utilizes just a USB flash drive. And that makes me sad. lol. So now it appears i have no other option but to get an ipod and bury it deep inside the dash of my car and pretend i dont own it.

BUT i have a few questions... with a ipod, can i transfer all my music onto it easily? i know id need itunes but will it allow me to import all my current music without any issues? also, i hear all the time of people "sync'ing" their ipods and losing all their music. i wouldnt be happy if that happened and i think id set the ipod on fire in that case. To give you an idea, i have upwards of 170GB of music so i'd prob end up buying the largest ipod available so its a petty big investment on my part IMO.

Now, on another note, that same ipod interface system available, also has an AUX audio in input which utilizes r&l rca connectors. so technically i could use an external usb music player, and run just a headphone/rca wire to that input and get music the same way, id just have to use the player as an external control. In that aspect, how is the Zune? I even considered getting a net book to but in my glove box just to play music out to the radio(thats how much i hate apple) but the main draw of the ipod is that i can control it off the stock headunit...

so answer my itunes based questions, and give me any other options or advice. thanks in advance, and in closing, death to apple, lol...