the thing that's cool about the apple ipod is that it's not just mp3.. it's all media. think about the possibilities in the future. u can have all sorts of music, movies, etc etc on it.. plus it's the size of a big pen. my buddy has one, and it's goddam amazing.
as for where i put my md when riding, it's usually in my pants pocket.. not the cargo ones, but the ones on the hips. if u bail, there's little chance that you're gonna smash it up. i definitaly ate shit all the time this year, and never caused any harm to the md.