The best things come in small packages; or so they say.
I have for a long time avoided Apple products as their ethos seems to focus more on design and compaction rather than functionality or providing a good deal for consumers. So what's good about this player?
Well the display is very clear and bright. The device itself is small and very light. The menu system is quite intuitive and easy to cycle through and I particularly like the way the menu system makes use of multimedia transition effects as it moves from one menu to the next. Also in the settings there's a graphic equaliser with a number of different settings, each accompanied by a graphic representation of the filters effect displayed using vertical bars on the right side of the settings list. There's also a very clear power level indicator in the top right corner. The most important aspect of any mp3 player though is it's sound quality and if you can keep the earphones in this is indeed very good.
I ported one of my own tracks to the device and could not hear a distinguishable difference between the original source and the mp3 version on the Apple. So with all this going for it why should you avoid buying one?
Well lets start with the price. £130 for an 8GB player does seem a bit high even if it has got video playback. Considering Sumvision produce a 4GB device which can be found online for about £25 you really have to question if this iPod is really good value. Then there's the proprietry software with it's niggly DRM to protect the rights of the 'Arteestes' which means it's easy to get content from your PC to your iPod but not so easy to transfer it from Ipod to PC. Thankfully the latest version of winamp fulfills this consumer requirement in a way that says "Ok Apple, if you won't give us good software we'll write our own". I would highly recommend winamp to anyone with an mp3 collection they would like to port over to this device.
It's just bizarre as the iPod appears to function as a USB flash drive in windows when connecting using the supplied cable. And there again is another strange design quirk. You can even drag & drop files onto it but the device fails to see anything unless it has been "installed" using itunes/winamp etc. For this reason alone I deem this device to be "very complicated" in terms of ease of use. It's not that "installing" your music and video is complicated; it's just that it should accept and recognise files which are dragged & dropped onto it. I have used this method to put tracks on so many other devices and it seems anti-consumer for Apple to create a device which allows drag & drop but doesn't then allow you to play the files.
There's also a distinct lack of memory upgrade facilities. This iPod has 8GB and that's yer lot. Ok that's a lot of songs but this is a VIDEO player as well and everyone knows video uses a LOT more memory. This is where that card-slot would have been useful. Using something like a Sandisk Vmate would allow you to get content from your TV onto a memory card very quickly so a slot to put your card into would make a lot of sense.
Instead, you need to source your own video clips (Youtube etc) and then convert your video into its 320x240 format using something like "Any Video Convertor" for example. Given that there are so many phones out there which can now record video at these low resolutions I can't help thinking that Apple missed something in the design here. There should have been a micro SD slot so you could borrow your friends memory card and copy their footage to your iPod.
In fact with the wealth of features available on modern mobile phones you seriously have to wonder what's the point of having an iPod at all. Ok so it may have a bigger memory than most phones in it's price bracket but it doesn't have voice calling, a PIM, a camera, many java games or even an FM radio. As soon as one of the major phone manufacturers stops putting the memory card slot underneath the battery and provides enough internal memory and the ability for users to swap card-content, this iPod may go the way of the dinosaurs.
This would be great though. Because strip away the design appeal and the advertising and you still have a tiny device with very good sound quality. Once these go out of fashion and drop to sensible prices on Ebay I might just consider getting one. Then again by the time they fall to my oppinion of their true value I expect to see mobile phones with 16/8 GB card support, HSDPA and 5mp+ built in cameras for a reasonable sum. So I'm handing back my loaned unit with the comment "Yeah it's nice; but I wouldn't pay £130 for one".
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Advantages: Made well, holds 2000 songs, plays videos,images and games, itunes software is excellent Disadvantages: DRM locked music, 79p a song is expensive
Advantages: It's tiny, Apple sexiness, easy to use, clear screen and interface. Disadvantages: Relies on net access too much, can work out expensive for Apple accessories
Advantages: Lots of storage, good sound, new features, video playback Disadvantages: all 2nd gen stuff wont fit, not different enough to warrant purchase
Jul 14th, 2008
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