I read a review of the nano, and they guys who wrote the report ran over it with a car. Though the screen was broken, it still played music. I think these little things are tougher than they look.
On another note, I had an ipod mini as well as a shuffle however i sold them both and bought a creative labs zen micro. The main reason behind the switch was that I already have and pay for napster and the micros are compatible with it and the ipods are not. Having used both, i don't really see a huge difference, nor do i have a preference.
i think the nanos are really neat but i really can not see myself selling my micro, buying a nano, and re downloading all of my songs.
this is the artical i read:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/