I recently bought my wife the Galaxy tab and you aren't restricted to ITunes for music or video downloads , I just bought myself the 64gb 3G IPad and I wish I had rather bought the Galaxy tab for myself , I'm hoping I just don't understand the IPad properly yet
Actually, I suspect you already understand the difference. If you're looking for a (relatively) open system with all that that implies (both positive and negative) you should opt for the Android environment. Google doesn't sell hardware (at least not primarily). Google is far less likely to benefit from controlling the apps that use its OS. And it's far more likely to benefit from making apps available to users whether they've been refereed or not.
Apple, on the other hand, has a mirror image business model. They benefit hugely from hardware sales. The more uniform the user experience the better from a support perspective. The iTunes app store is a massive cash cow for Apple. And as long as the sheer number of apps dwarfs any competitor, the fact that users are prevented from accessing alternatives is not a major weakness.
In short, Apple is the IBM of tablets (and smartphones.) There can be, at most, only one IBM in the market. All others, Google included, must choose a different approach.