Do U2 Have An Ipod (Apple iPod U2 Special Edition 20 GB)

Member Name: friendsnut

Product:	Apple iPod U2 Special Edition 20 GB
Date:	22/11/05 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks nice, easy to use, good sound

Disadvantages: Battery life isn't as good as Apple states, easy to dirty up

Buying an MP3 player is a complete minefield at the moment. Every electronics company seem to be churning them out with various sizes and differing prices. I guess you really have to shop around and take on board consumer opinion. I’d had a play with the Apple Ipod and here are my views.

As a piece of kit it’s pretty smart looking. The player itself is quite lightweight and will fit into your pocket whilst not feeling like a pocket full of loose change. The front is a cool white with a nice sharp colour screen and a deft control wheel. The back is metallic and looks cool. But there is a downside to this, the back is very easy to mark and looks really dirty after a few touches. This is due to the ease the back picks up grime and grease from the grubby paws of it’s user.

Now the difference with the U2 version is the casing. You get black and red instead of the usual colours. It’s all down to personal preference but you get nothing extra in the Pod in comparison to the standard retail version.

The Ipod comes packaged with the Itunes software, a USB connection cable and a mains charger connection. It’s all you really need to get started but there are many accessories available on the market at wildly differing prices.

The Itunes software is quite easy to use. You install it and then adding tunes from cd’s in a case of simply placing cd’s into your drive and Itunes will do the rest. Then when you hook up your Ipod to the computer it will update itself. I have to say the speed of transferring files from the software to the Ipod was pretty swift. The only downside is that 20Gb of storage is a lot more than you think. It will take a lot of your time to actually put your cd collection into Itunes and even then you’ll more than likely have space left to fill.

Sound quality from the Ipod is surprisingly good when sampled through the supplied headphones. I found a lot of clarity in the music, compared to other portable walkmans I’ve hard in the past it’s miles ahead. The in-ear headphones may look flimsy but they surprised me, I don’t see a reason to change them for any others on the market.

Using the Ipod on the go is very easy. The navigation wheel is light to the touch and you can scroll through the contents of your Ipod very swiftly. There are several menus you can go through in order to access various tracks. Itunes lists tracks in alphabetical order, album order, and composer order to name a few. With such a lot of tracks I prefer to use the shuffle option and let the Ipod do the choosing. Once your track is selected the screen will display the title and artist. If you’ve downloaded a track from the Itunes store then it is also likely to display the tracks cover art.

As an MP3 player the Ipod should definitely be towards the top of your list. But there is a big negative point I must bring up having used the player for a number of weeks. A glance on the Apple website suggests that you will get 14-hours use from the Ipod battery when fully charged. I have to say I don’t know where Apple got that benchmark. I’ve had far less use from the battery than Apple suggested before requiring a charge. This is definitely something I’ll be keeping tabs on should it continue. It’s also worth pointing out that the battery can only be replaces by sending your Ipod back to Apple. These are definitely two things you may want to consider when comparing the payer to the opposition.

These players are being phased out now in favour of the new video models so keep an eye for a bargain. To be honest the 20GB version is more than enough for anyone’s use but the Ipod is by no means the best all-round player out there.

Summary: Have your own Discotheque on a Beautiful Day

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