Yeah, it definitely depends on what you're looking for in an audio player. If you're looking to carry around a lot of music, you're better off with a dedicated MP3 player. Now, that also depends on what you consider a lot of music. I carry around 50-75 of the latest music titles with me on my 1GB card, which also hold three full backups, TomTom maps, 3 or 4 DVD conversions, eBooks, and a few Palm apps. Yeah, it's full. But that's all the music I care to have with me, but my own daughter is the type who won't be happy until her 30gb iPod Video is full.
Pocket Tunes is what prevented me from wanting an iPod. I can download music from Walmart.com (88 cents each) or even take direct WMA rips from WMP and sync it right over to my T|X just like it was a dedicated music player. Like Moose said, even the protected music files play just fine in Pocket Tunes Deluxe. Admittedly, it's a bit expensive compared to other Palm apps, but $34 is a lot cheaper than a $200 iPod -- again, if you can tolerate carrying around less music.
Truth be known, the main reason I will never own an iPod? iTunes software. It's the WORST. Windows Media Player blows the doors off of it, which is simply ridiculous in my opinion. WMP automatically finds cover art (iTunes is a manual process), song/album info is automatically found and the MP3 tags updated (again, iTunes = manual process), and maybe it's because I'm simply not a Mac person, but I can't figure out how to get where I need to go, etc., because the interface is so non-PC. Of course, this is all just my opinion (and my little rant), so you're experience may be different. I just know that syncing music and videos over to my Palm and to my son's Creative Zen PMC is a soooooooooooooooo much easier than my daughter's iPod Video. I cringe every time she asks for help, and that's weird in of itself because I am a gadget freak!
Good luck with your decision!