Hey Reckless,
This might not be what you're looking for, but I picked up one of these about 4 months ago: Boss Micro BR:
http://www.music123.com/Boss-MICRO-BR-Digital-Recorder-241152-i1169092.Music123
Its a really cool tool. I think it can do pretty much everything the Pod can do, plus record, play MP3's, slow down MP3's, its got built in effects that are tweakable, built in drum tracks, a built in mic for recording vocals or acoustics, and it also has a tuner.
The effects and modelling sound very good. I've actually played thru headphones and hooked it up to my stereo, and it sounds very good IMO. I'm willing to bet it will sound just as good, if not better than the Pod. The effects are teakable and you can save your settings too. (not sure if the Pod can do that.)
I originally bought it as a headphone/travel amp and to learn solos on. It can do so much more. I recently got into recording myself. Its got a dizzying amount of recording and editing features that I haven't even gotten into yet.
I've been playing with it for about 4 months now and I'm still fascinated with it. Recording myself sounds real cool. And the other day I was playing along to some of the built in drum tracks. There's over 200 of them! The sound very realistic and not like some cheezy electronic drum machine either.
I'm thinking that this would be way better than the Pocket Pod IMO. your results may vary.
