My main MP3 player right now is 80gb, though it isn't nearly full yet (since I'm not really in the same boat as you with the number of files) I enjoy having the ability to put whatever on whenever I want and not having to worry about taking things on and off... However, I also find that a lot of the music I put on there is stuff I just skip through a lot of the time and for some reason I never seem to take those songs off.
So, I've been wanting to get an iPod for a while now and I've always like the touch but thought it was not really worth the money, the shuffle is definitely not for me, the nano was okay, but didn't really offer anything my current players don't and the classic was nothing special and didn't offer any more than my main player. So, the iPod touch was still the one I wanted most, mainly because it is so different from what I have already. The more I looked into it and especially once apps were added, I realized it really would be worth it for me. However, the capacity was a bit of an issue for me as well. Originally I was only going to do 8gb, but since then I've decided that 16gb would give me more room to put extras on there, I wanted to have extra room for apps mainly.
So, what I've basically decided is that I'm going to go through my music collection before synching my iPod touch for the first time and really select the songs I know I like. I'm also going to add the apps I want available to me at all times. I figure for the most part this may go a little over 8gb or so, just an estimate. With the remaining space, that will give me room to add new songs and apps, put any songs on there I just want for certain ocassions (i.e. hosting a party or something) or when I need extra for a trip. This would also allow room for any videos I would want/need. For me personally, videos are something I only use on long trips, so I don't really need them in there all the time, but leave enough room that I can always add them.
For me, it is totally worth it to get the touch even with the lack of space because of everything else it does.
To sum it all up I would go with a harddrive player if you want to have a lot of space and don't want to worry about filling it up every time you add a song and also have the convenience of throwing whatever you want on there. Go with the iPod touch if you want a really cool and sleek player that has a ton of features and things you can do with it, but not quite as much space so you would need to spend more time selecting what to put on it.
The touch seems to be an awesome player and if you want to have all the extra features it offers, you can't go wrong. If, however, having a ton of songs on it is more important, than it may not be the best choice!
Good luck!
