OK, I'm happy to report that the Gadget of the Year is now the Philips hdd120 MP3 player combined with allofmp3.com. Especially since I picked it up for less than $200, thanks to ScottC's Best Buy coupon the other day.

While I was standing there trying to make up my mind between it or the Creative Zen, probably three people came up and, like a dolly that says 'mama' when you pull its string, went "iwannaipod. iwannipod". As usual, it felt good to not be going along with the crowd. Besides, the Philips is sexier looking, has a groovy animated display, and records.

allofmp3.com is just, well, amazing. Great selection, you can download any format and bitrate you like (including Ogg Vorbis, WMA, AAC, or uncompressed CD audio), nice little download manager application, and NO DRM. All for around 0.80€/album. Love those Russians.

Funniest moment during the player purchase. The "sales" guy likely mentioned the extended warranty no less than three times during our conversation and I just didn't respond. When I was at the checkout, the girl there just looked at me and asked which one I wanted, the two-year or four-year. When I told her neither, she immediately begain explaining how I could just decide I don't like it two years from now and they would give me another one. So I explained that since I live in Europe, it wouldn't do me much good, thanks but no. The poor thing froze solid. After a LONG 10 seconds of silence, she exclaimed, "Oh! Yeah! Um, we also have an international warranty (photocopied piece of paper materializes from nowhere with a US number to call on it) that works just like you're here!" Scary. That's one reason I hate buying things in that place. I had to tell them no SIX times.