Equipment Review: Apple iPod

Let's face it. When dealing with technology I'm jaded. Now there is just too much change happening too fast. I can't keep up with it. It used to be different.

I remember very well the release of Windows NT 4.0. My LAN administrator and I blocked out two days and secluded ourselves in the lab. We made sure that nobody knew we were there and we played. It was part of our job so the time was justifiable. What's more, it was fun.

With so much changing in technology I don't often feel a genuine joy in exploring it these days. My recent purchase of an iPod was a pleasant surprise. For the first time in recent memory I've been having fun playing with technology.

Last month I was at Circuit City talking to an employee. I was inquiring about the Creative Labs Jukebox. I wanted to know how it compared to the iPod. The 20 Gig model lists for $350, about $150 less than a similarly equipped iPod. In a whisper the employee stated that I should, "definitely get the iPod." I asked if he was sure. "Oh yeah, I'm buying one" was his emphatic reply.

Well, I'm not too thick. If the guy selling the competition strongly recommended the iPod, I was sold. I picked up the Mac model with the twenty gigabit drive. I purchased it at the University of Utah Bookstore.

I'm totally impressed and pleased with my iPod. This model has everything. Headphones, case, wired remote. The only accessory that I added was the iPod Auto Connection Kit II. This kit includes a cigarette lighter adapter, an upgraded case and an FM transmitter to interface wirelessly with your radio.

Sweet: The iPod sets up easily and interfaces seamlessly with Apple iTunes. The software includes an upgrade to iTunes 3, iPod help and some other nifty utilities. It took me about 10 minutes to get everything out of the box and begin transferring music. Less than 15 minutes later the 14+ gig of music on my Mac was transferred and ready to play.

I especially appreciated that all of my playlists were intact just the way I had set them up. New music is automatically updated each time you connect. The whole setup is quick and easy to use.

Apple has taken an elegant and minimalist approach to the iPod. There are no moving parts (not even a volume wheel) and only two interfaces. There is a port for the six-pin firewire cable and a mini jack port for headphones (or the line out).

Navigating is simple but not intuitive. It took me a few minutes to finally realize that the scrolling and volume control are handled on a circular touchpad. This scroll wheel is located around the center button on the face and is surrounded by the other controls. The function of this scroll wheel depends on your mode. While playing music it controls the volume. During navigation it controls scrolling to various features.

The upper menu button backs you up until you reach the base level. The center button chooses the highlighted option and moves you forward. It's all simple once you use it for just a few minutes.

The music quality is great. I've used it with several different headphones and numerous external speakers. No disappointments at all.

Lastly, the wired remote is nice when driving or listening to extended playlists. It provides limited navigation, forward and reverse on the playlist plus play/pause and volume control.

There are other little features that make this a nice piece of equipment. There is a shuffle feature that I wish I could get on my home DVD/MP3 player. I have playlists that comprise several hundred songs and having the ability to mix them up and play them in a random order is great.

The numbers for the built-in clock are large and easy to read. The backlight feature is usefully configurable. The battery lasts a long time between recharges and the power adapter connects through the firewire port for easy charging and usage while plugged in.

Hmmmm......... I have one BIG complaint and a few observations about minor annoyances. My complaint is that Apple makes no provision for being able to transfer music from the iPod to the Mac. (This is true for the PC version, also.) I believe their reasoning is to try to cut down on piracy.

That's fine, but they also cut down on the usefulness of iPod. I can think of one major reason to have this capability. If you lose a hard drive and want to transfer your music library back to the new drive it can't be done. That will relegate you to re-importing every one of your CDs. Ouch. Painful. I hope to see this changed in future software releases.

The iPod has the ability to hold calendar and contact information. To do this you must change the iPod preferences in iTunes. This is not an easy thing to figure out. It seemed that I was on my own in understanding how to get this working. The instructions aren't clear and I defy you to find a person on the planet that understands how it works. This action is also accompanied by ominous sounding warnings, so beware.

The contacts are useful and easy to transfer, once you make the configuration changes. The calendar feature isn't useful to me at this time. It interfaces to a limited number of calendar systems, all too bulky for me to deal with. There is no chance that the iPod will replace my iPaq any time soon.

The FM transmitter isn't reliable enough for music play. It is fine for audio books. I'd recommend plugging into an aux port on your car stereo. That's what I intend to do next. The headphones aren't great. The sound quality is good, but they come with these weird little pads that fit over the buds. These lasted about 1 day before they slipped off and were lost.

Even with these annoyances and the data/music transfer issues I would still highly recommend this purchase for anyone considering the iPod.

That's all for now........
9:18:35 PM    comment []