I have read that the iPods with hard drives are more fragile and wear out more quickly than the Nanos with flash memory. However, I've had my hard drive iPod for a year and a half now and its still working fine, although I don't use it continually. The disadvantage of the flash ones, although this may be different in the US, is that in my opinion the smaller capacity they have compared to the hard drive ones is nowhere near proportionately compensated for in lower price.