Should have stuck with non-Apple

Question

I purchased my first Apple product, an iPod, a week ago. Since then, I:
- have had to go through a lenghty registration process to make the device I own work
- haven't been able to charge the battery, although I'm doing things exactly the way the quick start manual instructs, and all other equipment on my USB (2.0) work fine
- haven't been able to find the full manual for the product I own, not in the sales box or on-line: on the Apple website, the product apparently is distinguished as "the one having a color display", however the manual for "iPods with color display" don't match with the product I own, even though my iPod indeed does have a color display
- have learned that artists "AC/DC", "ac/dc", "ac dc", and "AC DC" will be sorted in the iPod artist list as separate artists, and that there's nothing I can do about that, subsequently making it impossible to listen to these artists' songs in a row on the go, unless I create a new playlist
- have learned that I can't sort songs in iPod the same way as in iTunes, to overcome the problem above
- have received nothing but "error (-208)" in exchange for attempts to purchase music via iTunes
- attempted to solve the "error (-208)"-problem through various means, finally resorting to Apple discussion boards, only to find that I can't reply to articles before registering, and then findinging out that the forum search functionality doesn't return the article on "error (-208)" I just read by search terms "(-208)" or "error (-208)"
Needless to say, the user experience, product, hardware, software, support and the overall system suck beyond all conceivable expression. This is the worst product I've ever bought. I'm selling this piece of crap, will find a decent mp3 player and recommend that to everybody off- and on-line.
PC   Windows 2000  

Answer 1

have had to go through a lenghty registration process to make the device I own work
That's very odd. Mine worked when I took it out of the box. I did register it eventually, but that was to make sure I could use the warranty if I needed it. But the iPod worked before I even connected it to the computer.
haven't been able to find the full manual for the product I own, not in the sales box
Did you look on the CD that came with it? Most people don't bother, and then can't figure out where their manual is.
the manual for "iPods with color display" don't match with the product I own, even though my iPod indeed does have a color display
Several iPods have color displays. The "iPod with color display" is not among Apple's current product line, so if you just bought it, perhaps it is either an iPod with video (has color display) or an iPod nano (also has color display).
"AC/DC", "ac/dc", "ac dc", and "AC DC" will be sorted in the iPod artist list as separate artists
Of course they are, and that's how it should be. They have different tag information.
and that there's nothing I can do about that
As has already been pointed out, all you have to do is Get Info on the tracks and change them to all have the same artist data. After that they'll all work as the same artist. You can even select them all at once, and do a mass change to make sure they all match. In fact, a smart playlist can be used to easily find all tracks that have all those permutations automatically.
12" PB, Mac Mini (x2), G3 iMac (x3), G4 iMac, G5 iMac, Centris 610, SE30, Mac+   Mac OS X (10.4.4)   3G iPod, iPod shuffle, iPod nano