iPod - The Apple of my eye! (Apple iPod 30 GB)

Member Name: MrChilliWillie

Product:	Apple iPod 30 GB
Date:	19/08/04 (1499 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: its good, its more than good, its the best

Disadvantages: a tad expensive

iPod ? The Apple of my eye

?Wow?

This happened to be the sentence that I exclaimed as I unfolded the neatly arranged package. The box was extravagant and just so simple in a perfect cube which reveals the iPod inside. It is this kind of thing that makes me respect Apple, how they can make anything beautiful and put so much detail into every little thing.
There lay the iPod, the fixture of my dreams over the last month or so and I was over the moon. It was much smaller than I had expected and even more handsome. As it lay there cradled in my hands, I had a look at the contents of the box that included the following:

? iPod unit
? Docking station
? Wired remote control
? Case
? Proprietary FireWire cable that plugs into either the dock or iPod itself
? 6pin to 4pin FireWire adapter
? Software and instruction manual
? Earbuds
? Port Covers X 2
? Power Adapter

The docking station and remote are pieces of art themselves! The dock is very heavy and has non slip rubber layered on the bottom so it doesn?t wander off your desk. Everything?s so shiny and white! The remote is so small and of style and the top layer is coated in reflective silver which looks even more impressive! You have to respect the iPod?s beauty and class to enjoy it.
First of all, let?s go over the basics.

What is an MP3?

An MP3 is a compressed electric audio source which is so popular because of its portability. No longer do you have to take all your CD?s or MiniDisks on holiday to clutter up your suitcase. You can now access these and hundreds more of your favourite CD?s on the touch of a button with the iPod fitting snugly into the palm of your hand. However, the more you compress, the worse the sound will become and so anything recorded at 128kbps

data rate will be degraded. For higher sound quality I would recommend no more than 256kbps data rate. Any less would cause too much sound compression was used at the cost of fidelity and it would be disappointing to listen to. The other benefit is that you can buy MP3?s and download them over the internet instead of going to the shops and then having to rip the CD on to your computer. And I will talk about this and iTunes later on in my review.

Other audio formats?

The iPod also supports WMA and VBR. I do not believe it supports AAC however I am not entirely sure.

Who?

I hope all of you reading this review actually understood this title. If not then?..ummm? read the following ? it may help. Anyway (with a sigh). The iPod was made by that lovely company called Apple. Ever heard of Macs? Yep, well this is the company that made ?em!

Why?

Apple are technology wizards and has come top in every division possible with the likes of the powerbook, Mac G5 or the eBook. All they had left was the music industry and they wanted to explore. Surely if they had been so successful with previous plans then they will succeed just the same with this portable music player? And of course if Apple wants to do something, you know they will do it and come top. This they did and out came the iPod. Critics were blown away and a new era of MP3 began. Would the iPod ever be beaten? Well not to this day!

What?

Well, what is the iPod? The iPod is of beauty and elegance, like no other and of the best standard available. This is why it has grabbed people like David Beckham and singer Craig David as owners. Although I hate Craig David, I have to admit he has good taste!
The iPod i
s ren
owned for its huge capacity ? a whopping 10,000 songs, 40GB, 5000 songs, 20GB or 2500, 15GB. If you believe this and do the math: that?s four weeks of music - played continuously, 24/7 ? or one new song a day for the next 27 years. It is the most popular HD (hard drive) player available and although its high price tag is a bit of a distraction, it?s well worth the extra penny or two! Compared to most other hard drive storage devices the iPod is proud with its capacity. It is the smallest MP3 player available that can hold that many tracks and this is why people have chosen it over other players. Its main rival being the creative Zen which has the same capacity but is much heavier and more bulky compared to the slim curves of the iPod.

Appearance

I believe the designers in California really worked hard to get the iPod looking as best as it can. It has style. At 5.6 ounces, 0.62? thick, 4.1? tall and 2.4? wide, you won?t notice it in your pocket, but its there! It?s about the size of a modern mobile phone. The original version was much thicker and bulkier but apple have realised this and improved the appearance and the faults. Apple have recently introduced a new button layout for the 3rd Generation iPod which makes it an even more ergonomic design.
They have introduced a new touch sensitive scroll wheel to easily move through the thousands of songs contained in seconds which works in a rather complex way. Somehow it can sense the density of the air and when you move your finger to touch it, the density changes and it knows where you are and in what direction you are scrolling. The buttons are now also touch sensitive instead of mechanical. There?s a rewind that goes to the previous track or scrolls through songs, there is a menu button that takes you to the previous menu, a play/pause button (this is obvious) and a fast forward that jumps to the next song or can scroll forward the pres
ent song.

The most recent iPod is made out of two layers, the first is made out of brilliant, pure white chrome Lucite and then the sides and edges bend around to meet reflective silver metal which is surprisingly protective, although liable to fingerprints and scratching. When the backlight is on, the large LCD screen shines bright blue while the buttons light up an appealing florescent red. This really grabs your attention. The iPod is definitely the sexiest music player to possess.
Price?
There are three storage capacities. Each one with there individual price. The 15GB costs £250 but does not include the case or a dock (the other two do!), which I will explain later; this is a reasonable price for the amount you receive from it. The 20GB cost £300 and the 40GB costs a whopping £400, only really for professional musicians or DJ?s. If you buy an iPod you also get free laser engraving. Hopefully the prices will come down in the future????? If you ever doubt its capabilities, just compare these two facts ?128mb or 40GB?. The iPod is worth it.

What moved me to buy it?

I had heard so much about this miraculous MP3 player, so I thought it would be the one for me. I was flicking through a technology magazines, T3, when I found that the iPod was their favourite gadget and was just so popular and great that I couldn?t avoid buying it. If I bought another MP3 player, I felt I would be betraying it and so I got it for my birthday with my nickname (Wicked Willie) laser engraved on the back.

iTunes

iTunes is basically a type of music database, a bit like musicmatch but better, it is where the iPod updates your music from and is where you create the playlists that you want on it. It can store your whole library and burn CD?s and transfer music.
Apple has also made an MP3 web site, just introduced into the UK and is
selling tracks
for £0.79. This is one of the best sites for legally downloading music and the cheapest too! It?s unbelievably great!

Features and functions?

The iPods features are pretty vast but I shall try to include as many as possible. First of all there is a customizable start menu that can display links to Playlists, Extra?s, clock, settings, games and Browse (allows you to browse through your music).
*Playlists* are easy to produce using itunes; all you have to do is select your music from your library and drag it to your new playlist. Easy Peezy. Smart playlist are even better, you don?t even have to choose what songs you want in it. All you have to do is select a new smart playlist and specify what kind of music you want in it, e.g.
Only songs released in the 80?s with a maximum size of 3MB or a very good one is a list of songs with the colours red, green, yellow or orange etc and you could name it ?Rainbow? if you get my drift.
*Extra?s* includes features like contacts, notes or the calendar. These are stored on the hard drive and can be handy now and again. You could keep your daily routine or gym workout on it.
*Clock* Do I really need to explain?
*Settings* this is pretty obvious too! You know? stuff like contrast or equalizer settings. How you want your iPod to be!
*Games* these now include the likes of solitaire, brick (the one with the ball and the bat and you have to break down the bricks) and an interesting and rather tedious game called Parachute. I haven?t quite got to grips with it but I think you just have to shoot these Para gliders down with a big canon. Unfortunately these aren?t Gameboy standard games; quite poor actually, well they?re only there to keep you occupied for a few bleak minutes.
Oh! And one fascinating feature that I left till last. It actually (get this) plays music!
The iPod has be
en so successful mai
nly because it?s so good at what it does and secondly, there are just those little extra?s that make you appreciate just that extra bit more for instance. You can arrange songs in the order you want them to play, saving you time from going through your whole library to find them.

Battery?

The iPod uses an integrated Lithium Ion battery which can be recharged instead of having to replace AA batteries. The advantages of this are that the iPod is much lighter, with smaller dimensions which make it much more portable and cheaper to run. To charge, just plug it into a USB/FireWire port and a charging icon will immediately flash up onto the screen. If you prefer just use the AC adapter and plug it into an ordinary wall socket.
Due to the iPod?s slimmer sizes and the vital millimetres Apple have tried to shave off, the battery life has fallen to a short 8 hours from 10. But who would listen for 8 hours straight? .A 4-hour charge should fill the battery to 100% and a quick charge of 1 hour will reach 80%. Is the smaller battery life really a vital flaw? I don?t think so!

Software

My first impression when I loaded the iPod windows software disk was how smart everything was presented. After a few minutes, it had successfully loaded with no problems and an iTunes iCon (chi boom boom cha) had appeared on my desktop. I didn?t have to transfer the tracks from musicmatch to itunes as I didn?t use musicmatch so it was simple. I just transferred folders of my library from my network straight to iTunes. Simple. Plug the iPod in, and watch the music flow down the firewire plug, through the wire and into the iPod at rapid rates. An entire album can just take 10 seconds or so to transfer, about the time it?s taken you to read this sentence. Before you know it, the iPods large capacity is full to the brim. This
is good for most modern
lives; everyone is rushing about with no time to spare but the iPod doesn?t take any of your time, its pretty damn quick.
Essential Accessories
The Box contains a small carrying pouch, apple earphones (ear buds) and for the 20 and 40GB, a dock, remote and a protective case. The dock makes charging and updating much easier but is not essential. The only essential extras you might want to buy separately is a better pair of earphones (I personally have no problem with the ear buds) and a handy accessory is the Griffin iTrip that allows you to transmit your music through a radio frequency, meaning you can listen to the iPod through your car stereo!

Problems

Well, your all probably bored of me ranting on about how brilliant and life changing the iPod really is (honestly, it is marvellous) so here come the problems.
This section shouldn?t take long, however the iPod does have some annoying quirks that I shall go over now. Hopefully they will be sorted out for the next generation iPod. One problem I?m having at the moment is that I can?t actually update my iPod due to software faults. Maybe because I?ve just switched firewire cards to a different computer or something, it?s a mystery but I?m working on it.
One annoying feature that I have mentioned earlier is that the iPods metal back is prone to being scratched easily and it will pick up any smudgy fingerprints you leave behind.
One last complaint is that the touch sensitive buttons can sometimes be a bit too sensitive. It can turn itself on just if you accidentally brush one of the buttons, even if it?s in your pocket. This is why it has a long skip protection and a hold button that prevents the buttons from reacting to any slight pushes or pressure that may just land upon the iPod.

iPod mini

The iPod mini is a new iPod and guess
what?its mini. This iPod can
store 1000 songs and is even smaller than the 3rd generation iPod. If you don?t fancy forking out the dosh for the more expensive iPod and you won?t use up all that space up anyway, get this. Its small, still carries many tunes and is cheaper. Not available in the UK yet but it costs $250 in the US. A nice alternative to the standard iPod. It?s also available in pretty colours too which makes a difference to the bleak, white iPod!
Where can I buy it?
Well, you can buy an iPod from any good technology site or store. These include:

www.JohnLewis.com
www.apple.com
www.amazon.com
A personal favourite is:
www.ipodlounge.com

There are many more including eBay if you want a 2nd hand, cheap iPod, however, these are the three main, quickest and easiest sites to buy!
New just in!
Apple have just released the 4th generation iPods! New design and cheaper! 40GB are now just £300 and 20GB are £230!

Conclusion

Well, by now it?s pretty obvious how great the iPod is. Do I really need a conclusion? I know how good the iPod is, and so do you now, (hopefully) so there really is no point to carry on the conclusion saying how excellent it is. I?ll just say that overall it?s a quality MP3 player that you should all go out and buy it. I give it a top rating.
I enjoyed writing the review and I hope you enjoyed reading it; please do comment and I hope that you know a bit more about the wondrous iPod. I?ll just end with this amusing story (not for Brad Pulaski) that I read in the news titled:

iPod used in Domestic Homicide!

A young woman named Arleen Mathers, 23, was arrested after she called Memphis Police and told them t
hat she had killed her boyfriend, P
ulaski after a domestic dispute, apparently due to Pulaski erasing the contents of Mather?s iPod.
He had died of a blunt trauma to the head after being repeatedly bludgeoned by an iPod. Arleen Mathers said that he had accused her of illegally downloading music and so he erased over 2000 of her songs. Mathers complained that it took about 3 months to build the entire collection of music that he deleted.
An autopsy showed that Brad Pulaski had been beaten multiple times in the face and chest by a blunt, metal object. He died of internal bleeding.
(I told you how durable the iPod metal back was earlier, this proves it!)
The doctor then made this statement: She must have stabbed him 40 to 80 times with that iPod. His death was not instantaneous, that?s for sure?



MrChilliWillie

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