Apple iPod 20 GB

...- a clever design by apple which copies individual thumbnails, and ipod adapted size images across to minimize loading times. Clicking on a particular photo with the select key allows for fullscreen viewing. The photos are impressive and the colours seem vibrant, even for a small screen. Obviously, this isnt very practicle if you wish to show a slide show to a group of people, which is why Apple have allowed the ipod to be connected to a television ...
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Finally, the Apple have decided to allow users to create playlists without the need for a computer using its "On the Go" playlists feature. A rather welcomed feature. Its simple to use too, you simply hold select down on an artist/album/song that you want to add the playlist and 2 seconds later, its on there. you then have the option to name this playlist.


Depsite these good features, it does have its ... more

First of all, I always said I wasnt going to get an Ipod. I didnt like the idea of having what everyone else had, and I had heard rumours that they break easily. Also, there was the small matter of iTunes, a program I wasnt really fond of.

Well, that all changed a few days ago. I'd finally had enough of living with the Zen's broken screen for a year, and decided to buy myself one. Naturally, I did my research first, and I had had previous experence with my dads Ipod, so I knew what I was letting myself in for.

Now, I can comfortably say, it was the right descision. Feature wise, it outspecs everything out there (other than the latest ipod) and the Colour screen is crisp, large and blur free. It is addequent for 7 lines of text, thanks to good size resolution, whatever that may be. The theme is similar to that of a Mac, and looks smart and modern. It gives a whole new aspect of freshness, compared to the old Greyscale Ipods.

The menus are clearly and logically set out, and you don't find yourself stumbling around the player trying to find what you're looking for, even as a first time user. Ofcourse, the colour screen now adds a photo section to the ipods menu, enter this, and you'll find slideshow settings, a photo libaray - which displays all of your photos, and a seperate album named category, which displays images specific to that category, for example "France 2003".

Open up the photo libary, and the screen is able to display 25 thumbnails of photos, which take mere seconds to load - a clever design by apple which copies individual thumbnails, and ipod adapted size images across to minimize loading times. Clicking on a particular photo with the select key allows for fullscreen viewing. The photos are impressive and the colours seem vibrant, even for a small screen. Obviously, this isnt very practicle if you wish to show a slide show to a group of people, which is why Apple have allowed the ipod to be connected to a television to display slideshows, and the ipod acting as a remote.

Obviously, much loved games from previous iPods are now in colour, my only compaint being that solitare is a little hard to see.

Moving on, sound quality is excellent, having said that, to experience it fully you deffinatly need to replace the supplied iPod earphones, they are poor quality, sound slightly tinny and lack bass definition. Though the ipod isnt as loud as the my Zen, (when compared to the same music) iTunes allows you to turn up the volume before you transfer it to the iPod, which saves software such as audacity and acid pro having to be used.

The overall size of the iPod is impressive, considering the battery life is now longer than that of the previous 4G ipod, and the screen is in colour, virtually no weight or thickness has been added to accomidate them. (Other than the odd mm). Its really not noticeable unless directly compared to another iPod though. It still feels good in the hand, and the weight is such that you feel you're not likely to drop it. It also feels strong and durable.

The layout is as good as ever, and the clickwheel as easy to use as ever, If you're upgrading from a 3G ipod, you'll notice that its much easier to use, rather than having to stretch your thumb or use the index finger on your other hand to acess the buttons, its all convieniently placed in the clickwheel.

As I said, the menus are easy to access, the screen is easy to read, and syncing and transfering sonds is a breeze. However, when i first connected my iPod to the computer, iTunes was incorrectly recognising its size, and thus though it said songs were transfered, as a matter of fact they werent. A stroke of genious hit me however, as I decided to try and map the ipod as a drive in my computer, and look at its file system, to my surprise, one of the key ipod folders "Ipod_Control" was set to hidden and read only, after i ammended this, Itunes correctly identified the ipod and songs transfered.

Photos, however arent as easy to remove from the iPod once they're on there.

Finally, the Apple have decided to allow users to create playlists without the need for a computer using its "On the Go" playlists feature. A rather welcomed feature. Its simple to use too, you simply hold select down on an artist/album/song that you want to add the playlist and 2 seconds later, its on there. you then have the option to name this playlist.

Depsite these good features, it does have its disadvantages. Still users are unable to delete files directly from the iPod without the use of a computer, Creatives alternative the Zen, allows you do to this. I suppose however its not such a big deal, considering you cant add to the ipod without the use of a computer anyway. (Unless of course you're talking photos, with the sold seperatly camera connector)

Another dissapointment is lack of supplied accesories. As usual apple have been rather tight when dishing out the goodies, this is such that your ipod comes with the bare necessitys a Wall Charger, Earphones & USB cable. I wouldnt mind, but considering the Accesories are so expensive, its a bit annoying, knowing you have to spend around £30 - if you want an official accesory - to unlock all of the ipods features. Still, i suppose this is how money is made.

As already mentioned, the supplied earphones are poor, and really dont do the iPod justice. I replaced mine straight away with Sennheiser PMX 60 headphones, and you can definatly hear the difference.

Thanks to the ipods finish and shiny mirrored surface, it is extreamly easy to scratch, though this isnt the end of the world, you idealy want it undamaged. Just like a new car. I straight away ordered an iCover off of ebay for £3 including p&p to protect it, luckily for me, both the ipod and cover arrived seperatly on the same morning, so i didnt even get chance to scratch it.

Other than this, I fail to see faults with the ipod. Overall its an excellent little mp3 player, I only wished i'd upgraded sooner. Unless you can afford it, i wouldnt go straight for the newest iPod as soon as they are released because the price falls alot after a few months. Now, would I recommend 4G users to upgrade to this? No, its not really worth spending another £150 just for the colour screen. Even though it is incredibly nice. To users of an older ipod 3G minus, or a non-colour creative i would definatly recommend.

Here is a full specification list:

Product Features

* Keep up to 5,000 songs in 128Kbps AAC format in your pocket
* Use it with Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP
* Take it everywhere--it's only 158g (5.6 oz)
* Find songs fast with the Apple Click Wheel
* Listen longer with up to 12 hours battery life
* Shuffle songs in the main menu
* Play MP3, AAC and Apple Lossless
* Jog without fear--25 minutes of skip protection
* Save multiple On-The-Go Playlists
* Adjust speed for Audiobooks
* Sync and charge via included FireWire or USB 2.0 cables
* Use as a portable hard drive--take your files with you
* Accessories not included: dock, remote, carry case

Technical Details

Capacity: 20GBhard disk drive(1)
Holds 5,000songs in 128Kbps AAC format (2)
Stores data via FireWire or USB 2.0 (3) hard drive
Size and weight (20GB model)
Height: 10.4 cm (4.1 inches)
Width: 6.1 cm (2.4 inches)
Depth: 1.4 cm (0.57 inches)
Weight: 158g (5.6 oz)
Display (20GB and 40GB model)
5.08 cm (2 inches) (diagonal) liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight
160-by-128-pixel resolution, 0.24-mm dot pitch
Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
Audio
Up to 25 minutes of skip protection
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF, Apple Lossless and WAV
Upgradable firmware enables support for future audio formats
Customisable settings (iPod)
Customise main menu
Create multiple On-The-Go playlists
Adjust audiobook playback speed
Clicker playback through headphones
Rate songs
Shuffle songs or albums
Repeat one or all
Sound Check on or off
20 Equaliser settings
Backlight timer
Display contrast
Alarms on, off or silent
Sleep timer
Date and time
Display time in menu bar
Contacts sort and display by first or last names
Clicker on or off
Menu Languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese.
Display Song, Artist and Album Info in: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish and Ukrainian.
Headphones: Earbud-style headphones with 18-mm drivers using Neodymium transducer magnets
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Impedance: 32 ohms
Input and output:
Dock connector (dock not included)
3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
Wired remote connector (remote not included)
Environmental requirements
Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Non operating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% non-condensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)
Power and battery (3)
Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
iPod playtime: Up to 12 hours when fully charged
Standby time: 1 month when fully charged
Charging via FireWire to computer system or power adaptor
Fast-charge time: about 2 hours for iPod (charges up to 80% of battery capacity)
Full-charge time: about 4 hours
Charging via USB 2.0 to computer system or power adaptor
Full-charge time: about 4 hours
Power adaptor
6-pin FireWire connector
AC input: 100V to 240V at 0.4 amp maximum
Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz
DC output: 12V at 1 amp maximum 

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