I own a 4G iPod. I’m about to have to perform unauthorized surgery on it to replace the battery (Apple decided that a replaceable battery offended its sense of aesthetics and it loves to charge you a triple-digit fee to put one in for you), but I am casting a covetous eye at the new iPod Touch models.

Except for one thing: The outrageous price. That is the one thing you can always count on from Apple. A 16gb iTouch will set you back four Benjamins.

This is the very reason I’ve never been an Apple fan. I’ve always liked their products — although they’ve certainly had their share of hardware reliability issues over the years — but I’ve never been excited about paying the high premium (sometimes 50% or more) for the honor and privilege of owning their hardware over the less-pretty competition.

And Apple certainly demonstrated a soak-the-suckers attitude with its most recent product announcements, where the company substantially slashed the prices of the still-mighty-new iPhone.

Every time an Apple-head gripes about the evil of Microsoft vs. the saintliness of Apple, I point out these little facts. I’m no fan of Mr. Softee’s corporate moves, either, but Apple simply isn’t the good little company it likes to imitate.

UPDATE (9/7): Steve Jobs seems to agree with me to a degree.