Ipod and Monitor questions

So, my family gave me a $200 Amazon gift certificate. I figure there's two things I could buy with it.

An iPod, or a new/additional monitor.

The iPod has one feature I love: the ability to buy single songs. I have a WMA mp3 player (an old one, Creative Zen Xtra), and I've never been able to find a place where I can just buy a song for a buck.

Is there a way to rip DVD stuff to the iPod? Could I watch my Buffy DVDs on the iPod during a long ride in a bus/train/plane?

Does iTunes do something funny with your music? I heard someone say something that made me think that it would re-directory all my music, and I loathe the very concept with a great and grand passion (though I have to admit, it might not be a bad idea. But it's not *MY* idea. Yes, I can be oppositional.))

Does an iPod work like a plug in hard drive, or do you need special software to do that? (I don't care if it doesn't... but if it does, that's a huge plus in its favor.)

Does an iPod have a plug-in charger? I've heard about USB chargers, and I was desperately hoping they were "in addition to plugging it in, you can use a USB charger".

Does anyone know a good 19"+ monitor that's near enough to $200 that I won't be thinking "great, I'm using this as an excuse to go into debt, when I'm within spitting distance of being free of credit card debt?" (The spit would have to be more valuable than gold, and probably voluminous enough that I wouldn't spit so much as open my mouth to prevent loss of teeth, and I'm *really* being mean to this poor expression, aren't I?)

(Side note: was it always "voluminous", not "volumnous"? It's amazing how many words I recognize just by poor-quality brain photography and later realize I have no idea how to spell them. "Excaberate" was a particularly hard one to eliminate. Doesn't it just sound more like "Making it worse" than "exacerbate"?)

Ipod and Monitor questions

So, my family gave me a $200 Amazon gift certificate. I figure there's two things I could buy with it.

An iPod, or a new/additional monitor.

The iPod has one feature I love: the ability to buy single songs. I have a WMA mp3 player (an old one, Creative Zen Xtra), and I've never been able to find a place where I can just buy a song for a buck.

Is there a way to rip DVD stuff to the iPod? Could I watch my Buffy DVDs on the iPod during a long ride in a bus/train/plane?

Does iTunes do something funny with your music? I heard someone say something that made me think that it would re-directory all my music, and I loathe the very concept with a great and grand passion (though I have to admit, it might not be a bad idea. But it's not *MY* idea. Yes, I can be oppositional.))

Does an iPod work like a plug in hard drive, or do you need special software to do that? (I don't care if it doesn't... but if it does, that's a huge plus in its favor.)

Does an iPod have a plug-in charger? I've heard about USB chargers, and I was desperately hoping they were "in addition to plugging it in, you can use a USB charger".

Does anyone know a good 19"+ monitor that's near enough to $200 that I won't be thinking "great, I'm using this as an excuse to go into debt, when I'm within spitting distance of being free of credit card debt?" (The spit would have to be more valuable than gold, and probably voluminous enough that I wouldn't spit so much as open my mouth to prevent loss of teeth, and I'm *really* being mean to this poor expression, aren't I?)

(Side note: was it always "voluminous", not "volumnous"? It's amazing how many words I recognize just by poor-quality brain photography and later realize I have no idea how to spell them. "Excaberate" was a particularly hard one to eliminate. Doesn't it just sound more like "Making it worse" than "exacerbate"?)