Apple iPod Review

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Incorporating the fabulous Apple Click Wheel that was first introduced on iPod mini. Offering up to 12 hours of battery life. Weighing in at just 5.3 ounces. And getting slightly thinner with each new generation. iPod continues to define the perfect digital music player for Mac and Windows.


A musical dream come true, the fourth-generation iPod offers huge capacity, letting you easily slip up to 5,000 songs into your pocket. And enjoy it wherever you go. In the car. On the treadmill. At the office. Around the house.

In fact, the new fourth-generation iPod includes features that make it even easier to access -- and have fun with -- your music. Take, for example, the Apple Click Wheel. With the Click Wheel, you can select playlists, scroll through a long list of albums or artists and choose just the song you want to hear without ever lifting your thumb from the wheel. Feel like mixing things up? Now you can choose "Shuffle Songs" right from the main iPod menu. We think you'll also enjoy iPod's long battery life -- up to 12 hours. And with the 25 minutes of skip protection iPod provides, you can jump for joy and the music will keep playing.

Music and More

But, guess what -- iPod lets you do more than listen to music. Much more. iPod provides you with up to 40 GB of storage. True, you're likely to use a good portion of that storage capacity for your music and audio books, but you're bound to have a little space left over. You can use the FireWire or USB 2.0 cable that comes with iPod to connect the iPod to your computer and copy files. Word documents. Keynote presentations. Excel spreadsheets. Photoshop files. You name it.

Rise and Shine

Did you know that iPod has a sleep timer that lets you fall asleep to music? It's true. And if you like to wake up to music or to the sound of an alarm clock, iPod is just as accommodating. You'll find settings for the Alarm Clock and Sleep Timer in the Extras menu. Both features work very well, by the way, when you connect iPod to a pair of portable speakers.

Product Review

Since getting my new 4th generation iPod, I've spent a LOT of time with it. I also have MP3 players by Creative and iRiver, and I will compare the iPod to them.

DESIGN AND EASE OF USE:

The iPod has always been the most elegantly designed player on the market, which is why people pay the iPod premium. This is my first iPod, and using it is really a joy, moreso than the other players I've used (not that they are bad).

Using the iPod is easy and intuitive. Within an hour of opening the box, you will have installed the software on your computer, transferred a dozen CDs to the iPod, and be comfortable using most of the features and commands on the iPod. To learn more advanced features, like how to create a playlist on your iPod on the fly, you'll need to read the manual. But, the manual is very well-written, and makes it easy to find just the thing you need. (The manual is supplied only as a PDF file on the CD-ROM, though you get a printed GETTING STARTED guide in the box.)

To transfer music to your iPod, you must use the iTunes software, which doubles as a store that sells downloadable music and audio books. I like the iTunes store, and find the prices reasonable, but please be assured that you needn't ever visit the music store if you don't wish. The software is a very nicely designed manager of your iPod's library.


SOUND QUALITY:

I compared the iPod with my other music players by plugging them into a high-end stereo, which is better to distinguish subtle differences between players than just comparing through headphones.

The iPod sounds very good. Not quite as good as the Creative player, but as good or a little better than the iRiver (which CNET rated highly for sound quality). The difference in sound quality between the iPod and the Creative players is probably too small to affect your purchase decision unless you are a very picky audiophile.


PERFORMANCE:

The iPod puts out enough volume to power any headphones.

File transfers are very, very fast, whether using USB2 or FireWire (and the iPod comes with both cables, a nice bonus). It takes a second or less for each song to be transferred to the player.

I haven't tested battery life, but CNET's independent review reports battery life at 13 hours. (Apple advertises 12 hours - how refreshing to see the actual time be LONGER than advertised!!)


OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:

The 20gb iPod doesn't come with a dock. In fact, Apple is now excluding the dock from all new iPod models, a cost-cutting move. You really don't need it to connect the iPod to your computer for syncing files or charging. Getting the dock would add a little convenience, but not really any functionality.


NEGATIVES:

The iPod is more expensive per gigabyte than other players, and the battery is not user-replacable. (The competitors - Zen Touch, Karma, and iRiver IHP 120/140 - do not have user-replacable batteries, either.) For a price, Apple or 3rd party vendors can replace the battery for you if it ever dies.

The player doesn't accept WMA format. If you already have a lot of music in unprotected WMA format, the iTunes software will convert these files to Apple's proprietary AAC format so that they'll work with the iPod. However, there may be some loss in quality, which is inevitable whenever you convert a compressed file from one format to another.

The real problem is when you have a bunch of PROTECTED WMA files, such as those you buy from MusicMatch. To get such files on your iPod, you must first burn them onto a CD, then re-insert the CD into your computer (as if it were a regular music CD) and use iTunes to rip the songs to an iPod-friendly format like MP3 or AAC. This procedure is time-consuming, and may result in a small loss in sound quality.


THE BOTTOM LINE:

I recommend the new 4th generation iPod very highly, though you should strongly consider the 30gb iPod photo instead - it's a little more expensive, but has a lot more storage capacity and a color display.

I also encourage you to check out the iRiver iHP 120/140, the Rio Karma, and the Creative Zen Touch. If you buy the Creative, be careful - it only comes with a 90-day warranty (compared to the iPod's one year). My Creative player died shortly after the warranty expired, and Creative charged me over $100 to fix it!

If you want the iPod but hesitate because it's more expensive than the competition, keep in mind that you're probably going to use this player for a good long while. An extra 50 bucks spread out over three years or so is well worth it to get such a great player.