I'm going to response solely to the question "What would probably be most useful in college?"

I'm in college. I have an MP3 player, and love it. I have an XBox, and I don't play it that often. I have a Palm Tungsten E and I love it. I don't have a camera, yet.

At My College:

Everyone but me has an iPod. You won't really impress anyone with an iPod, or an iPod photo, for that matter. As a matter of fact, you stand out more if you DON'T have some kind of portable music player.

Some kind of organizer can be very, very, very, VERY helpful. My life is on my Palm. At the same time, you don't need it to do a lot of fancy stuff. If it can keep track of your classes, work, homework, etc it is sufficient. I will admit that people with the coolest PDAs look more important and intellectual, as sad as it is!

As far as the Playstation goes, I don't think a PSP would be where you should spend your money, especially if you have some normal way of entertaining yourself, like a non-portable game console, or a gaming computer. You don't need a Playstation in class. Don't get a PSP.

About the camera. I recommend getting one you like. After one year of college, there are a million things I wish I would have memories of, that I don't. That's why I'm in this forum right now. I'm buying a camera. At the same time though, it doesn't have to be a great camera.

I recommend having some variation of all of these (the list you gave). If you have some and not the others, spend the money to get a cool whichever-one-you-don't-have. You'll be happier having 3 mediocre gadgets and one really good one versus replacing one you have with a really good one, and missing another. Does this make sense?