Thanks very much, bp888 and swise. I've been poking around the iPodlounge looking at accessories and found a nice option for the belt pack. swise, I'll take your advice on the headphones vs. earbuds idea--I'll just see what comes with the unit and test that headset out. bp888, thanks very much for alerting me to the $1 (vs. $79!) option for hooking this thing up to the stereo! And swise, I will just stick with my bagful of international adapters now. I am embarrassed to admit that I have no idea what a firewire port is, much less whether my laptop has one, so it looks like I will be carrying that wall adapter around until I figure this out.

I think I am ready to go here! Woo hoo!