N3o, On my 2GB players I have 1 music folder, on my PC I have around 6,000 mp3. Every day I connect my player and and use a program called Flash Shuffler, I have it set to delete all the files in the Music folder of my player then randomly select 1024MB of music files from my PC and copy them to my player. This gives me about 250 random MP3's in one folder. This suits me because obviously I like all the music I have and it gives me about 10-11 hours of mixed music.
The other gig of space will hold 3 or 4 full length movies that I can watch on a 1.8 inch screen. I can connect it to any PC and move files to and from it without frigging around with iTunes crap.
So the chiPod suits me better than the iPod.
Although I like the nano clone I have I prefer the non nano players firstly because they use a standard 3.5mm earphone socket where the clones use a 2.5mm so you have to get a 2.5-3.5 adapter to use some quality earphones and I recommend you upgrade the earphones.
Also non nano players generally have more battery space. The standard chiPod nano battery around 230mAh gives anything from 4-6 hours continuous music play, this player
HERE I upgraded the battery with an ipod mini replacement 600mAh and it now gives me 12-13 hours continuous music play. I did have to remove the tiny internal speaker but I never used it anyway.
This player
HERE I updated with a 850mAh 3rd gen iPod replacement battery and it now returns over 18 hours of continuous music play, once again I ditched the speaker.
The short answer to your question, I would buy a 2GB Chinese MP4 before a 1GB iPod any day preferably a non nano clone.