Is there a difference between Apple's and HP's ipods?

just pointless...dont do nothing...

The difference is all marketing.
They are available at different places. (Saw one at BJ's Wholsale Club, for instance.) They are sold as an option to people buying HP's by way of advertising and sales people. Having the same brand name gives the mostly false impression that it will work better with an HP. I say "mostly false" because, actually, HP computers have iTunes preinstalled.

The difference is all in marketing and marketing can make a huge difference reaching further than Apple can trapped in it's own branding. (Which is less and less of a problem, nowadays. )

Bottom line: This is a good business move for Apple, but we consumers can totally ignore the difference. There is none as far as we're concerned.

I would always buy an Apple version because I'm an Apple geek who wants the logo on the back, but as for my friends and family, I tell them it doesn't matter which one they get.

EDIT: When I say there's no difference I mean the iPod is the same. You may get a special deal on one or the other depending on where you buy it and I have no idea if you get the same cables with each. You should examine these kinds of things, but the iPod itself is the same.

I have a new Apple +HP Photo 30GB hard drive that simply refuses to sych in iTunes or Anapod unless I perform an update and several resets! I even purchased a PCMCIA firewire card and the Apple combo USB/FW cable and now I just get Microsoft Error reports! What good is thsi expensive GADGET? The sound is only fair and compare poorly even to my old Classic CHD1000, CHD500 and RCA Lyra. In fact, all my recording had to be made at 320 level just to sound tolerable. Granted I may be discerning but clicks and pops and scratches just don't cut it. Screw trying to put photos on it...it won;t work well for music and HP's tech support's answer was a link to an Apple webpage that provided a list of about ten pre-tested add-on USB/Firewire cards like those from Orange Micro and the statement "these are the only Apple approved ports". Heck, my laptop is a Sony Vaio K-25 with a 2,8 GHz and 3 USB 2.0 ports---I've never had this kind of impossible situation before! Screw this!