well, i dont know abt chennai prices, but i had inquired abt ipods in mumbai and a 4 gb ipod costed 12k. its indeed worth it if u dont want to carry 6-7 cds all along with u to listen to ur favourite songs. also, easy scrolling for songs is a plus point.
btw, there r many other mp3 players around too, those which also additional features like have fm radio, memory expansion (with mmc or sd cards), voice recording, etc of various brands like transcend, creative, etc. at prices ranging from 5k to 15k. just check around some shops and inquire abt them bfor making a desicion.
well, i myself have a umax vega 203 which i bought in an extreme hurry in a lack-of-choice situation (big mistake) for 5k and has some of the features mentioned above. but i wudnt advice u buying that coz it has only a measly 265 mb built in memory ad i had to shell out extra cash for mmc cards to accomodate my favourite songs. and one big down point is it runs on AAA size batteries and u'll need to spend more. so if u're buying a portable mp3 player, one important point to see is that if the player has a built-in rechargeable battery.
coming back to ur post, i've heard a lot abt apple's quality, so they say its worth the money.
but if u dont want to spend a fortune and r willing to carry cds along with u, a cd-mp3 player is just fine.