Jami Needs Geek Help

Normally I'm a big enough geek all by myself, but here's the thing: I need an MP3 player. Long story short, I have a nice collection of birthday/Christmas moola and in about a month I'm going to have enough points on a website I click through to ads on to get a $50 gift certificate to a variety of stores and I want to join the 21st Century. But I don't know a thing about them. I can barely spell MP3. The iPods sure look cool. I need your help. I know at least 75% of you know more about this than I do. What I'm looking for is:

1. Enough memory, or the capability to add more, so that I can put, I don't know, a few hours worth of music as well as a couple podcasts I'd like to get.
2. Durability - I don't plan to buy one of these every year, or every two years. I still have my CD walkman my husband bought me as a gift about 8 years ago and it's still working. That's what I'm talking about
3. A good "first" one. I'm fairly tech-savvy and I'm not afraid to read a user manual. I'm great with figuring out stuff as long as it's not ridiculously complicated. So, I need one that I can read/figure out, or one that if I get stuck, you'll help me figure out.
4. Value for the money. I'm not cheap, and I don't mind paying a little more if it's really a better product.

Do I need video? Probably don't need it, but maybe you can talk me into or out of it, if you know about that.

So what'd'ya say folks - what should I get? Help!