Thanks again for the great advice, everyone.

So the iPod touch 8gb version has essentially stayed the same from 2nd to 3rd gen. Amazon is selling both items for like $189 (I think the 3rd gen is actually a few dollars cheaper than the 2nd gen), or ~$205 for a combo deal with a sturdy rubber case and screen protectors.

I see the Nokia N810 is at around $220-240 right now. The Zune HD, released tomorrow, is at $220 for 16 GB. The Nokia N900 is $400-450 at the cheapest; the Samsung Mondi is at $450. The latter two are definitely out of my price range - I'm a grad student making $2000 a month, and my savings have been depleted by moving across the country and buying a home this summer.

At this point I am leaning toward the iPod touch, because the price is right (don't need more storage than 8GB, especially since I won't be storing videos or more than 100 or so songs on it - if I get it, it'll replace my 2.5-year-old 2GB mini Zen, which is pretty bare-bones and used only during my daily workouts), and because there are tons of third party apps available to customize the device's functionality. I've been looking at reviews of the many to-do list, daily planner, and similar-type Touch apps, and it seems like at least several, outside of RTM, have syncing capability.

Although, if you guys have more advice, I'd be happy to hear it.