Apple iPod Photo Review
Product Description
From the ManufacturerWelcome to the best of both worlds. Now that iPod and iPod photo are one and the same, every white iPod boasts a full-color display--ideal for viewing album artwork and playing slideshows. Choose from 20 GB or 60 GB models and carry up to 15,000 songs or as many as 25,000 photos in your pocket. For Mac or PC.
Everything Sounds Better in Color
The original iPod changed the way you listen to music by putting thousands of songs in your pocket. Now it changes the way you see your music, with a crisp color screen. Browse playlists via vivid menus, thumb through album cover art, even play games and view calendars in color. Or sync photos and view them in color, anywhere. Your personal, portable entertainment library, iPod looks as good as it sounds.
Take It for a Spin
iPod incorporates the same touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that debuted on iPod mini. Use it to navigate your music on the iPod's 65,536-color, 220x176-pixel display. Spin the wheel to scroll effortlessly through dozens of playlists, hundreds of albums or thousands of songs and podcasts.
Or highlight photos. iPod displays 25 full-color thumbnails at a time, and you can scroll through them the same way you scroll through song titles. When you see a photo you'd like displayed all by its lonesome, just click the center button and voila. No one will have to say "cheese" as long as you have iPod around. Whether you're listening to tunes or checking out photos, you're sure to be all smiles.
Join the All-Day Hit Parade
iPod lets you play your music for up to 15 hours on a single battery charge*. Imagine: You could fly from New York to Paris and still have hours of listening time left as you stroll the Champs Elysées. While you're on the move, iPod keeps you aware of its charge level, and when it's time, iPod's quick to recharge. Plug it into your computer or a handy wall socket (via the included power adapter) and you can fast-charge iPod in as little as two hours.
Sync, Look, and Listen
The perfect companion to iPod, iTunes lets you easily build and manage your digital audio collection. Browse the built-in iTunes Music Store for more than 1 million songs, 11,000 audiobooks and 3,000 podcasts. Jazz, Pop or Hip Hop. Mystery, memoir, or thriller. Comedy, news, or politics. From reading to radio, the iTunes Music Store has it all. Download what you want, then sync everything -- including full-color album, audiobook and podcast art -- to your iPod using the included USB 2.0 or optional FireWire cable. Even your photos come along for the ride, either via iTunes or the iPod Camera Connector. Once you sync, everything appears on your iPod, so you can look or listen anytime, anywhere.
As for the CDs you already own, iTunes makes it easy to transfer your favorite songs and albums. Just pop a CD into your Mac or PC and click the Import button. You can import music in a variety of formats, such as MP3 or AAC, and at whatever quality level you'd prefer. Choose the Apple Lossless encoder for sound quality indistinguishable from a CD at about half the original file size. And with USB 2.0 and FireWire support, you can transfer the music from an entire CD to iPod in just 5 seconds or less.
* Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
Product Description:
Change the way you see (and hear) your music. Store up to 5,000 songs, free radio podcasts or hold up to 20,000 photos inside this colorful iPod. The player introduces a crisp color screen that lets you browse menus, thumb through album cover art and even play games, see calendars and sync photos to view in color. The iPod also lets you play your music for up to 15 hours on a single battery charge and can fast-charge in as little as 2 hours. Macintosh and Windows compatible. Imported.
Product Review
Passionate iPod users know at least one thing about the iPod line-up,
and that is they are always changing. The new full-size iPods have
moved to an all-color line-up, and that is a good thing. The new 20 GB
iPod with color display is 0.06 inches thicker than its 20 GB
monochrome-display predecessor. However, after a little use, the small
increase in size does not seem significant. Plus, the bonuses are rich.
This 20 GB iPod with color display has a battery that lasts three hours longer than the previous 20 GB with monochrome display. That brings the total to approximately 15-hours, which is great as it allows you to use your iPod longer in every day circumstances before charging, while also giving you the power needed to fly almost anywhere in the world, on a single charge. Compare this to some of the earlier iPods that had only eight hours of battery life.
What does the color screen add, for you might ask, "I'm listening to music, why a color screen?" Well, album art is one benefit. The iPod displays the album art, when playing songs, which helps create the feeling for the album. Furthermore, iTunes works with iPhoto on Mac and Adobe products on PC, in order to transfer your photo libraries to your iPod. You can then view your cherished photo libraries on the go, which might come in handy when you're telling the story of that huge fish no one seems to believe. However, the best part of iPod with color is that you can buy the optional photo adapter, plug it into the dock connector on your iPod, and transfer photographs direct from your digital camera via USB. This allows you to move potentially gigabytes of photographs to your iPod, while on vacation, freeing up the memory card in your camera. This is truly a time and money saver! You can return from vacation with thousands of images that would have never fit on your camera's memory card alone. Finally, you can view slideshows of photographs, and even display them on television, with optional A/V cables sold separately.
Why has the storage not increased on the $299 model, when switching from monochrome display to color? Apple is obviously choosing to give you the features of a color display without increasing price, rather than increase the size of storage on the base iPod at this time, and it is a good decision! 20 gigabytes is an ample-size iPod, for almost everyone. Few people have more than a few gigabytes of music, and that leaves you with several more gigabytes for photos, backing up files, and future-proofing. However, if you do have more than 20 gigabytes of music, and you want to backup some of your computer files to your iPod, you might choose the 60 GB model, although it is even thicker in size. However, that is going to be a select group, for 20 GB truly shines, and it is ideal for almost everyone. A good value, at this time, is the now discontinued 30 GB iPod photo, which has identical features and dimensions as the new 20 GB color. The 30 GB can still be found at the time of writing this, for between $330 and $350.
Mac or PC? This iPod works beautifully with either a Mac or PC. However, on a Mac, you'll immediately enjoy the synchronization of iTunes, your contacts, iCal calendars, Backup software, and of course iPhoto. On PC, you will have iTunes, but you'll need a third-party application from Adobe to sync photos the right way, while, you can find some shareware on the Internet that will allow you to sync other information, addresses, etc. that you might be interested in trying out.
Finally, Podcasting! The newest version of iTunes is 4.9, and it features Podcasting support. Podcasts are internet radio broadcasts, and there are thousands covering nearly every subject imaginable, and more are coming out every day. Podcasts are quickly becoming popular content on iPods around the world. Check them out, and this iPod supports Podcasts out of the box.
Appearance - The iPod is beautiful, but the back's chrome finish is prone to scratches, and the screen can become scratched as well. It is a very good idea to protect the back of the iPod and the screen in some way. There are many cases and protectors out there, and you will surely find something you like.
Overall, this is another excellent product from Apple Computer. The design is elegant, simple, and intuitive. It will provide hours of entertainment and convenience. Enjoy your iPod experience.