[iTunes] iPod newbie X's 2

[cheshirekat]

I've wanted an iPod since they were announced. Now, with Christmas
around the corner, I'm planning to get two 30G video iPods for the
spouse and I. But I want to do careful research before all the dollars
are spent. So I would appreciate any input on my questions below.

I have a Titanium PowerBook G4, 867 MHz, OS X 10.4.7. Since these came
with USB 1.1 I bought a FW/USB PCMCIA card a few months ago from
MacMall, to add USB 2.0. functionality. Unfortunately, the card didn't
work. I am now looking at trying either an Adaptec adapter or an IOGear
adapter. Both are 2 port and USB only. Does anyone have either of these
PCMCIA adapters functioning for their PowerBooks and can recommend one
over the other? Or another brand? I don't know what other options I have
for synching music to my iPod, (including many protected AAC files I
purchased from the iTMS) without USB 2.0 which the specs from Apple say
is required for the new iPods. However, Apple doesn't sell any PCMCIA
adapters that I can find. Nor have I found any other means of getting
2.0 functionality to my PowerBook.

Are there many/any restrictions for external drives for the pc? Our XP
pc, which the hubby uses, has very little hard drive space. I'd like to
invest in a network drive that we both can use and share over our
network. (I doubt that we will share purchased songs because our music
preferences are extremely different.) I'm hoping someone has a network
drive they can recommend. I'm especially interested in one I can set up
and manage from my Mac because otherwise, it won't be a Christmas
surprise if I have to use the PC to configure the drive. 

Any other 'Must Have!' accessories or pointers for two people who've
never owned an iPod are also welcome.

-- 
Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! 
-  J. K. Rowling , Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone, 1997