So much better than a bar of soap
Written: Oct 06 '03 (Updated Oct 06 '03)
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Pros: Much more than just a music player. Simple to use, a joy to behold.
Cons: Aluminum surfaces attract fingerprints like you wouldn't believe, non-replaceable batteries.
The Bottom Line: You simply can't go wrong with an iPod. Unless you need double-digits worth of uninterrupted battery life.
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| kenshin27's Full Review: Apple iPod 2nd Generation 20 GB (MAC) MP3 Player |
Wow, it's been quite awhile since I've written a review. Thanks to the being unemployed for a good half year I wasn't in any condition to pick up new toys and write about them. But things are better now so barring any bouts of laziness I should be reviewing again. Since my new job requires an on average 40 minute public transportation commute, the iPod seemed like the ideal gadget to pick up. I had been trying to hold out for the next upgrade but finally decided to take the plunge since Apple was having a $200 rebate promotion when you bought a new Powerbook and iPod from their online education store. So a 20GB iPod for $169 was too good of a deal to pass up. The only reason I didn't splurge for the 40GB is that I'm not _that_ big of a music connoisseur so 20GB was plenty enough for me. I'm sure I'll regret it a few years down the road but hey, by that time I'll be ready to replace this one with whatever's out then. ;-)
Now when you order any Apple products from their online store, it seems like they ship it to you fresh off the conveyor belt. iPods in this case are put together in China so even though I had paid extra for 2-day shipping, actual time was exactly 5 days from when the order status was changed to "Shipped." Since it was coming in from Shanghai it had to spend another day or so trying to get through customs. But once it hit the US, getting to me did really take 2 days. So if you're a really impatient person, buying direct from the Apple Online Store might not be for you. Unfortunately if you want their educational discount pricing you don't really have much of a choice.
The iPod itself comes in a simple, yet attractive, cube package that splits down the middle. The first thing you'll see will be the instruction manual, warranty info and other paperwork. On the right side you'll find (burrowing from the top down):
- iPod
- iPod Dock Connector to FireWire Cable
- Dock
- Power adapter
On the left side you get your:
- Apple Earphones
- iPod Remote
- 6-pin-to-4-pin FireWire adapter
- Leather case and belt clip
- Plastic iPod Connector protective inserts
Everything is very nicely packaged and/or vaccuum sealed. The iPod itself is one gorgeous piece of electronic equipment. That is until you get your grubby little/medium/big paws all over it. The shiny hypnotic aluminum that makes up half the sides and the entire bottom of the iPod is quite possibly the most fingerprint-attracting material known to man. And that's not an exaggeration. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise since the back of the iPod is pretty much a mirror and mirrors always attract prints. I think Apple should team up with Canon to come up with a shinier 'Cerabrite' material which Canon is currently using for their Powershot S400 cameras. Rubbing away the prints do not help since you'll just wind up smearing the entire surface. Although I guess when that happens it at least looks a bit better and more uniform than having individual prints all over the back of the iPod. And since the front of the iPod is lily white, you best keep your hands clean before handling the thing if you don't want to dirty it up too quickly.
The earphones are pretty much standard earbuds. I had read some complaints about the earbuds not staying in place for some users but I guess my ears fall within the standard range cause these fit mine perfectly. They were even nice enough to include an extra pair of pads for them. Speaking of which, does anyone know where I can get these earbud pads in general online? I have some other earbuds that desparately require pads and I can't find them physically in any retail store that I've been to. Anyway, you can either plug the earphones directly into the iPod or first into the iPod Remote which you then plug into the iPod. The remote has 4 buttons (from top to bottom): Volume Control, Next/Previous, and Play/Pause. The face of the remote is made of the same material as the back of the iPod so once again, fingerprint magnet. The back of the remote is a shallow clip that you can use to fix the remote onto any available piece of clothing or whatnot so that it's in easy reach. If you press on the right side of the remote too hard at times you could accidentally cause the clip to open though. Located on the top right edge is a Hold switch which makes the buttons inactive. The only complaint I have with the remote is that I think the cord between the remote itself and the end that you plug into the iPod is a bit too long. When combined with the cord from the remote to the earbuds, that's a good chunk of cord to have to mess with. I'll have to get a tie-twist to reduce the length of these cords.
The controls on the iPod itself are simple and easy to use, consisting of a 5 buttons, 1 switch and a solid-state scrolling circle. There are four buttons situated above the scrollpad: Previous/Rewind, Menu, Next/Fast-Forward, Play/Pause. The 5th button is the Select button that's located in the middle of the scrolling circle. The remaining control is the Hold switch that makes all the other controls unresponsive so that they aren't accidentally pressed/activated when you stuff the iPod into your pocket or bag. The screen is a standard black and grey model that looks just fine. It also has a rather strong backlight which you can program to turn on for a certain length of time (or not at all) when you touch the controls. You can also set the contrast for the screen in case of extreme sunlight.
Operating the iPod is quite simple, with the scrollpad making things very quick and easy. You basically work your way through a bunch of nested menus, using the scrollpad to move up and down a list and then the Select button to make a selection. Traversing back up the menu tree requires use of the Menu button. And that's pretty much it. Not exactly rocket science which is how it should be. You can cycle through your songs either by playlist, artists, albums, songs, genres or composers. You can also create a temporary playlist on the fly by holding the Select button for a few seconds on a certain song, playlist, album or artist. Pretty handy but that list is erased the next time you connect your iPod to your computer. The sound itself is quite good. I'm no stickler on acoustics but the music sounds just fine to me. There are preset equalizer settings that you can set. The only thing is I wish it would retain the equalizer settings for each song that I had set in iTunes.
Besides handling your music, the iPod also has a decent collection of alternative functionality as well such as clock, alarms, contacts, calendars, notes, and games. If you use iSync you can basically sync all your Address Book and iCal information onto your iPod. Pretty nice. I now have synced info between my Powerbook, iPod, Palm, and T68 phone. Total informational redundancy. You can also upload text files to the iPod which will show up under the Notes section. And the Games section currently consists of 3 games: Brick, Parachute and Solitaire. Brick and Parachute are relatively easy to play with the scrollpad but I have problems with Solitaire since it requires a lot of extraneous scrolling around to get your cards where you want them. Think it's easier to use my Palm or phone as a gaming platform when I'm commuting than the iPod.
Integration with a Mac is also quite painless. Plug the iPod into its cradle or directly to the FireWire port of your computer and iTunes will start up (if it's not already running). If this is the first time connecting the iPod will start downloading all your music and playlists from the computer. Subsequent connections will update the iPod with whatever changes you may have made in your iTunes. You can also set your options so that the iPod only updates certain playlists or whatnot. And there's also a separate option to turn your iPod into basically a FireWire external hard drive in which case your iPod will appear as a drive on your desktop and you can pretty much treat it like any other hard drive. I've heard of people basically installing OS X on their iPods to use as an emergency boot drive if needed.
Battery life is probably the iPods only weakness although it's generally not an issue with me since I use it mostly during my daily commute (~40-50 minutes one way) and intermittently throughout the day. Plus I always plug it in when I get home. Unfortunately you can't really replace the batteries or anything so if you want more than say 8 hours of run time you'll need to buy the external battery pack by Belkin which lets your use rechargeable batteries but also increases the overall bulk.
And I believe that's pretty much it. It always amazes me that you can cram so many CDs worth of music into something the size of an iPod and its ability to do so much more is just icing on an already great cake. Definitely a great accessory for those who use Macs and/or love their music.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 169
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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Epinions.com ID:
kenshin27
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Member: Ben C
Location: NJ
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 17 members
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