Which music system for 7yr old ? IPod ????

[minceorotherwise]

I need to get music system thing for my son's 7th birthday as he's really into his music
Don't want to spend masses but like the look of the square small Ipod ? Looks fairly easy to use with just playlist options and what looks like a touch screen
I also have a bose speaker system that my iphone fits in and was wondering if that (or any of the other types of ipods) would fit it too
Can anyone advise on simple version to get / that stores music / and or videos / through speakers of maybe I get another cheaper speaker set for his too ?
Any advice gratefully received - I am rubbish !!!!

In the last couple of years I've bought a couple of Archos MP3 players, first cost me 24 pounds with 8 GB of storage for music and the second more recently in Asda was 17 pounds, with 4 GB storage (but also has FM radio and can transmit [low power] FM for playing by any nearby radio).

Non-Apple players mostly use the USB port to connect to your computer and you can then drag and drop any MP3 files as the MP3 player looks like a USB memory stick. No need for iTunes to be involved unless you go for Apple iPod etc.

There are probably dozens of units with an iPod dock to allow playing through a bigger sound system... anything from 35 pounds to hundreds. Fewer perhaps for other MP3s and might not be as integrated as the iPod (some may have a remote control for the audio system which will also feed signals to the iPod to allow you to skip tracks etc. Does really depend on your budget as to which player and adaptor / audio amp to go for, in my view.

Thanks for the great info! Do you rate the iPod (small square one) ?
I have a mac so figure it is fairly easy to download via iTunes.

I have never used the small one (Nano ?) so cannot comment, sorry.

The ones I am using "do the job" fine :) First one (now 3 or 4 years old was only a tenner [only 1 GB of storage in it], and has FM radio, displays photos, plays video and can record voice clips too, made by DigiMate from memory).

Still going strong... I use it to keep important documents on as my 'backup' and take it with me when visiting clients, as I keep a few Windows applications on it which mean I can install them if needed (various small utilities, for file transfer, ZIP file handling, text file editor, image editor).

Dd has the iPod nano, she got it when she was 8yrs and it is great. If you already have a mac then transferring stuff from iTunes is easy plus your DS can get iTunes vouchers from people to buy his own stuff with. The nano itself s simple and straight forward, I'd definitely recommend it.
We bought the ipanda dock to go with it which is easy for dd to use and also gives a great sound -I know it looks it wouldn't but I promise you it does! HTH.

Ooh spiffing, that sounds like a plan!