I am considering the iPod Classic 80GB

A few people I know have got that Philips wireless hard drive stereo which I like the idea of, but buying an iPod and maybe one of those Klipsch speaker/docking sets would be half the price and have better sound.

I have avoided iPods and stuck with other mp3 players...Creative, Samsung, even Packard Bell!

What I want to know is, how is battery life affected by being docked permanently? Also, some of the fluffy features like displaying album art...does that take up memory like a photo would?