It still really whips the llama's ass
While clearing out recently I found my old iPod, remembered how much I enjoyed using it, and set about repairing it. Youtube FTW. Now has new battery and an SD card replacing the HD. Re-initialized on a mac, turned off journaling in HFS+ and now I can sync it from Linux/Rhythmbox just fine (including playlists). Even better, with a new battery and sd-card it lasts a couple of days solid use between charges.