But, it’s much easier to charge your player than to fuel your car with gas: just plug it in at nite … 
I’m not saying that a longer battery charge wouldn’t be nice, for the reasons you state. But if I had to choose between longer battery life and greater storage capacity, storage is going to win every time, for me. Even the newest generation Apple Shuffle (you know–the one that now has buttons again (and that still pales in comparison to the Clips, costing significantly more for significantly less, apart from the look of jewelry) ;) ) has “only” a 15-hour battery (and frankly, I was surprised by that lack of progress–I guess that more charge just can’t be put into that small a battery?).
