Can you clarify -- do you mean that you don't want to buy an iPod touch, or that, since you're not tied to a phone/iPod, you wouldn't mind buying one.
My recommendation would be to find an older touch(local, not ebay) and put shredder + chess.com on it.
Can anyone recommend a hand held electronic chess set? Something like the Mephisto Maestro travel set, which doesnt use pieces for example. I do not have an iphone or anything else electronic, if that ends up being the way to go (ie buy a ipod touch and download a chess program for example). So i am not tied into anything.
What do you recommend?