I apologize in advance for the excessive length of this post.
I own an IPod, not a U2 one, just a regular white one, and I've had it for over a year now, since before U2 put their name on it and as a result made all of us at Interference begin drooling. I take my IPod everywhere. When I went to Cancun last summer, during the day every day when I went to the beach, I had it with me. I'd go in the water, and then I'd get out and sunbathe either earbuds in, U2/Radiohead/Pearl Jam/Nirvana/GnR/whatever playing to me. It REALLY added another layer to what was already a great experience...watching the Mexico sun set while on the beach WITH the music playing.
I take to campus every day. I listen to music during breaks, the biggest of which is a two hour twenty minute break I have on Mondays and Wednesdays. Today is Wednesday so I had that break, and during it I listened to selected tracks from Radiohead's The Bends and OK Computer. Also today, extenuating circumstances forced me to ride the bus home. When I left campus, I put my earbuds in. I walked from campus to the bus station, stood and waited twenty minutes for the bus to arrive, rode on the bus for twenty minutes, and walked another twenty minutes from the bus stop near my house, to my house. And the WHOLE time I had my earbuds in. And I listened to a wide variety of U2 music, from the Last Night On Earth Single to the Melon disc to HTDAAB to Joshua Tree. That's four discs right there, yet it all fit in the palm of my hand(or as it were, in the pocket of my leather jacket, earbud wire travling from pocket up the side of my body and into my ears). Using a CD player, to equal what I listened to today, I would've needed the SIX CDs and the Discman itself, but with IPod - just one small unit, and I barely felt any weight on me.
IPod is like a drug, once you start using it, you can't stop. I listen to my IPod more than I listen to my stereo, because it is SO easy to switch from one record to another, one artist to another, make my own on-the-go playlists, move to different points in any given song, and other stuff like that. It is INCREDIBLY convenient, efficient, easy to use, and just so damn cool too. And I hate using the word cool to describe anything. I'm serious, once you start using it, you won't want to stop. For this reason, I make the following suggestion: If you do get an IPod, and I think you should, do NOT get the Mini, as you alluded to before. It is MUCH less hard drive space than you will end up wanting/needing if your music collection is of any significant size, and its cost is really not that much less than normal IPods. As for the U2 IPod, it really doesn't matter if you get that or not. It's the same device, just red and black instead of white. Your call, doesn't really matter. Although if I were offered one I'd take it.
I completely disagree with the people who said not having music would enhance the experience. I refuse to go on vacations without music; First it was a discman, then it was an MP3 discman, and now it's an IPod. Of course, the fact that I'm very very introverted and don't particularly enjoy talking to total strangers whom I've never met before, probably plays a part in the fact that when faced with deciding between putting the earbuds in and zoning out or talking to the strangers on the train, I pick the earbuds every time.
So, in closing, the IPod does cost a lot of money, but there is a reason why it's far and away the most popular and groundbreaking MP3 player on the market; that 'lot' of money will be TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY worth it. It will be one of the best purchases you will ever make, and you will never have any regrets whatsoever. I have friends that will attest to my having bestowed upon the IPod the title of 'Greatest Gadget Ever In The World Besides Laptops'
I mean, just LOOK at it...I can already hear your oohs and aahs...
I should work for Apple...oh yeah, that's right, I can't stand Apple computers. But whatever hate I had/have for Apple for their overly-simple computers goes out the window when I lay my hands/ears on my IPod. That's how good the IPod is.