Thats ok when you have everything apple and are happy to use the apple media formats, for anything else they are all a nightmare. Add up the cost of your setup, not a lot of kids or mums and dads can afford that sort of money, great as the setup sounds. IMO these devices must be judged on their own merits, they can't be hopeless on their own without spending 1000s in additional devices/equipment.
The iPad as a piece of hardware is fantastic, no doubt. If you are happy with being told what format to use and are happy with the choices available then I would agree it's fantastic. If not then they are not by any means to be recommended unless you are very happy to fudge just about everything. I think the browser is the only thing I haven't touched as I get on quite well with it.
And this is the point I'm making, as I have been saying from the beginning, none of the apple fans seem to mention these drawbacks when touting the products as the best. Seems that fashion is more dictating than useability. It's disappointing when you expect a product to be good based on people's opinions only to find out they are one sided and whiff of "what I have is best" rather than being objective. I know that it is to be expected, but the sheer magnitude of the beliefs of apple users led me to believe that my own opinion may be wrong with the iPad (I had never used one, I had some assumptions of what it would be like). Turns out the only things I presumed wrong were the browser and the onscreen keyboard which are fantatstic. The flash thing I knew about so I can't complain about that.
Basically I'm saying don't listen to the hype and don't listen to the opinion of apple users, myself included, get your hands on the kit and test it to the lengths you want to use it. If you are not a mac orientated person with mac orientated formats then I warn you will be disappointed.