Don't they? Why?

I've also got the 40gig iriver and love it. Especially the ability to record audio (for some lectures) and radio (since I don't have a stereo or computer system equipped for that).

Having also used my bro's ipod, there's a couple of things I would like to see improved - mainly the age it takes to scroll though folders when you have the folders set up as music-->band-->album. I don't even have that much music, but have had to group bands by their first letter within the larger music folder. Ipod's clickwheel definitely has the advantage there.

And ipod's playlist-on-the-go system is better.

Have you been upgrading the firmware regularly? Has playlisting been added somewhere along the way? I just realised the other day that it's been ages since I've done it.