it pwnez the iPod really? Yeah Apple selling more iPods in a minute than Sandisk does is a week is huge ownage on Sandisk's part haha. The SQ thing people who hate Apple always bring up is played out, yes older iPods didn't sound great. And by older I mean WAY older. Newer iPods all sound great, my 5g Nano sounds awesome. But then again I'm not stupid enough to pretend I know the sound difference. If you blind folded me and used my headphones on my Nano, a Zune and a Sandisk Clip I couldn't tell the difference. And regardless of what you think, you couldn't either OP.
The sound quality difference between my Clip+ and my friend's 2GB Shuffle is very noticeable. We tested with the same 256kbps track, same headphones, and same environment. A Nano / Touch is probably much better in regards to sound quality, but those aren't what the Clip+ is competing with after all. Look at the price tag.
The bottom line is, aside from physical size, the Clip+ blows away the iPod Shuffle in every respect. The Clip+ has more storage at the same price point than the Shuffle, a small display for choosing music tracks, equalizer settings, playlists, FM Radio, etc., MicroSD slot for expandable storage, better sound quality, and a drag-and-drop interface to add songs / podcasts / etc. to the PMP - no need to download some kind of iTunes hack or alternative program.