buying used 3rd gen. iPod, thoughts?

my first post, yay!
so I'm thinking about buying a "lightly" used 3G 20gb iPod from a friend at work, he's selling it because he wants larger storage capacity. We haven't agreed on a price yet but I think based on what I've seen on ebay it's worth around $300CND which is about 250USD.
I'm not sure how much he's used it but I am wondering, at this point in time have there been any widely experienced problems with the 3rd generation iPods? and what about battery life? I know they go dead after a certain number of charges, should I be worried?
Any bit of advice would be greatly apreciated.

thanks,
ap

3rd gens are still good

They get around 6-8 hours of battery life depending on how you use it. I have had a 3rd gen running for more than a year and battery is still like it is out of the box

Yeah, 3rd gens are fine, but I'm upgrading to a 4g because the control scheme (clickwheel) is amazing and the increased battery life is nice, too.
As far as that price, though... sounds a little steep to me. You can get brand new 20gb 4g iPod on the Apple Store for Education Online for $270 USD... I'm not sure if you're a student or not, but at $250, I'd just pay the extra $20 and get a new one.
Ask him to drop to $200 USD and then you'd be in business.
Those are my thoughts, anyway.

Agreed, 250 is a bit much...

On the battery issue: You can always a replacement battery fairly cheaply in future if you feel you need it...

I haven't talked to the guy yet but I am curious about the educational discount has anyone here used it? also, if it matters I live in Canada.

I've used it to buy both my PowerBook as well as an iPod and several accessories. You just go to http://www.apple.com/education and follow the appropriate links to see if your university or highschool is eligible (most are). If so, you are allowed into a special online store that gives you apple products at reduced rates. It's a great way to save a couple hundred dollars on a computer or $30 on an iPod.