I have to charge it every night, otherwise (as other people have also posted) it dies during the second day. I use it a lot every day, so this doesn't surprise or bother me.
As for battery replacement, I fully expect to be on my next iPhone long before battery performance becomes an issue. I'm estimating that it'll be at least 2 years before my battery drops below 80% efficiency (which is still enough for my current usage habits), so I've got plenty of time. I don't expect that I'll be upgrading very soon as I'm comfortable with 8 gigs and EDGE, and almost everything else is software upgradeable.