I got an N800 christmas 2007 and 2 16GB cards. Canola has been ran every day since then, and it's still uber-cool, and the best thing I own.

If storage is the key for you, and it sounds like it is, then pick up an N800, and 2 32Gb cards. The flexibility will crush stuff like apples, archos's into the ground. Oh, and if that's no enough then you can also plug in a usb hard disk....

There are at least 5 different mainstream media players I can think of of the top of my head, so there should be one to suit your tastes, although for my music on the 800 (about 28GB) I find Canola is the best performing, and easiest to control in the car. It also has enough eye candy to make apple lovers green!

I use wayfinder, Canola, and Carman daily for a couple of hours a day, and canola has ran more or less continously for 17 hours today. I keep the tablet plugged in on my desk at home and work, battery life is never an issue for me. As it uses a standard Nokia phone charger, you could always by an emergency phone charger and keep that in the bottom of the bag.

Gaz