40GB hard drive holds approximately 1,333 hours of music at 64 Kbps (or 666 hours at 128 Kbps) * plays MP3, WAV, AAC, AIFF (uncompressed), Apple Lossless, and Audible files * backlit LCD displays track info * 25-minute skip protection * warranty: 1 year *
1 Nice Little Player
Brought this 40gb ipod for my daughter and she loves it. Use was easy to learn and software pretty easy to use. Looking back on it now...40gb is overkill. She will never fill it up! Downside are the earphones that come with it. Works much better with the Apple optional earphone...but then it's another $40.00. After you purchase one of these ipod's are when the cost really start to go up. From downloads to all the accessory that you can buy will set you back hundreds of dollars on top of the original cost of the ipod. I still like it enough to have purchase a Mini ipod for the wife for mother's day from my daughter. She likes this so she does not have to share now. For someone that will not have thousands of tunes...a mini is just fine!
2 Does not work with long MP3s
I returned my iPod after 3 weeks.
I bought my iPod for one reason: to listen to while I run. This is definitely not the product for that. You will have lots of people tell you that the iPod has a 25 minute skip protection, and yes, that is true. However, my workouts are composed of a single MP3 that includes not just music, but verbal cues on how fast I should be running at certain points in my run. This means I have MP3s that are 45 minutes to 2 hours long. Invariably, the iPod would lock up 24 minutes and 59 seconds into my run.
You may argue that this is a special case, but I would counter that due to the ridiculous limitation of not implementing cross-fading, anyone wanting to listen to a "complete" album will want to record the album in its entirety as a single MP3, thus creating an MP3 that goes beyond the 25 minute cache. If you happen to be doing anything more strenuous than sitting at a desk while listening to that album, your iPod will freeze up like a Minnesota pond in December.
I bought a flash based MP3 player with better sound and, unbelievably, an even less intuitive interface than the iPod. And yes, the iPod interface is extremely unintuitive. I gave my iPod to three people who had never used one before and asked them to play a specific song. After 5 minutes, not one of them was able to find the tune.
3 DON'T PANIC unless you work for Sony!
I first bought Sony's Diskman and thought, "This is so coool." I then bought Sony's Mini Diskman and thought, "This, too, is cool."
Then, my wife took a trip to the states. I hoped she'd get me a 20 GB iPod, though I was afraid I'd be letdown, my hopes built so high due to media publicity and such. Well...
The iPod 40 GB is so much greater even than I had hoped! Aside from one badly-needed accessory and one tweak, this product is just about perfect. In other words, the iPod is as terrific for music as is iBook for convenient computing on the road, or as is the Mini-Mac (or iMac) for home computing or as is the G5 Mac for business computing.
To give you a short sketch of my music for the road here in Egypt - I copied some 50 cd's onto two mp3 cd's (with mini-disk it took several more disks and sound quality was less acceptable) and felt that would be sufficient. It is a lot, obviously, but while driving it is impractical to change from one song to another since it is not practical to read labels displayed while driving.
Further, as a subscriber to Audible.com I have an immense audiobook library. To listen to these with the Sony players I have had to settle for track recording and could use only the diskman. My cd burner died after the first 55% of my library conversion to cd that had already amassed more than 400 compact disks. Not a very efficient system and not especially user friendly, but then, I knew nothing of iPod and so was content with getting what I had gotten.
Now, though, I have the miracle product I have dreamed of having since a teen in the sixties! Read on to learn the rest of my dream that I am convinced only Apple will try to make into reality.
With my 40 GB iPod Photo, though, I have at present some 26 days worth of songs and audiobooks
What is the badly needed accesory? A power adaptor for the automobile cigarette lighter. I am regularly on the road here in Egypt for periods exceeding three hours each direction on the same day. Aside from BBC and iPod I have no source for entertainment or information as I gave away both obsolete Sony players once I got most of my music and audiobooks loaded onto the iPod. Remember, more than 400 cd's had been used for the first 55% of my library that was, I judge, about 22 days worth of audio.
Well, how much of the iPod was needed to store 80% of my library? Only 9 GB. Yep, if I choose to listen to everything in my e-library (including texts converted into mp3) I am using only 9 GB for some 30 days of continuous listening. Assuming I return stateside and drive 12 hours a day (using a car power adaptor when it comes) I could drive for 60 days without listening to the same item twice!
Apple, if you're reading this, please, please, develop a car adaptor!
The tweak needed?
Include in the iPod operating system a file convertor incorporating text-to-speech using AT&T Natural Voice. About the only reason I now use my Windows PC now is for converting my writings into speech so I can listen to them either for entertainment or for proofing.
Apple, are you listening?
If so, you probably now have a glint of my dream since childhood. I have been devouring information for its own sake as well as for applying my knowledge at work. I, however, am not a fast reader so I have wished I could listen to books but the available books in audio format are too limited for my hunger. To get the books I want I have to do the work myself but then have to little time to listen unless on the road. Conversion presently takes too long.
Apple, however, can complete the Douglas Adams work and provide an iPod that really does read aloud the text files within it - as opposed to playing somebody else's audio production.
Long live Douglas Adams. Long live Apple.
4 It's Got A Few Flaws
the ipod's got a few flaws. mine keep on messing up and being retarded so i ended up getting i think 2 or 3 replacement oens and those some how did the same thing wouldn't update songs, wouldn't charge or something along those lines. Don't get me wrong it's a great portable player but i would buy it from like bestbuy or some palce that offers an extended warranty. and i would recommend when you do update to not use any other programs and close all the programs down and just do it over night while your sleeping so thats what i was doing but then one day before work i got a new cd so i decided to update it BAD MISTAKE. i didn't close all my programs down and cause the itunes application to freeze up and now i cant update my ipod.
That's just the negative thigs about this awesome product. If you're like me and have an extensive music libary for me this product or the 60 GB Ipod Photo would be perfect fit for you. This way you don't have to carry around your cd player and have to decide between 72 cds and then after you leave you be like damn I forgot about this cd and that cd but if you this mp3 player you don't ahve worry about that you'll have all the music you want with and weighs less than the weight of 2 cds so you wont know its in you pocket. You may pay a hefty price but if you're all about the quality of a product this one isthe on to go with but the dell dj ain't too bad either.
just like every electronic device there are flaws jsut find a way to get around and you'll be good to go.
This mp3 player is DEFINITELY worth every cent you pay for this album. It's a good buy.
Hopefully this review helps you out a bit when you're deciding whether or not to buy this mp3 player.
5 Elegant but fragile
I ordered my 40 gig ipod last week after the price dipped in the wake of Apple's decision to discontinue this line. The first few days were great. What an elegant little device! Sound quality was great; storage space massive; battery life more than adequate, transfer times quick. It did cause my Windows machine to become a bit more unstable, but what new installation doesn't? Then, tragedy struck. The buttons and clickwheel began to work only intermittantly. Eventually, it got to the point where the iPod would only turn on when plugged in, and hitting a button would only cause it to turn off again. I quickly exhausted all of Apple's tech support's suggestions and returned it. I did not drop the iPod or put it through any abuse beyond normal activity (walking, lifting at the gym, etc.). Stories like mine abound on the internet. So before you buy, realize that the iPod is a delicate creature. Despite Apple's claim that it is intended for "active" people, it is NOT intended to be used during jogging or other rigorous activity. If you drop it, the chances are pretty good that you will break it. If you want to use an mp3 player for running or anticipate dropping it, I recommend going with a flash memory player.
Hopefully my replacement iPod will be less problematic.
6 Incredible!
There are only 3 purchases that I can say have changed my life.
1. My house
2. My motorcycle
3. My iPod (40gb)
If you are considering one, you WILL NOT be disappointed!!!
7 I panic when I think of life without it
Other reviewers have covered the technical aspects of this iPod very well, so I won't go into it. Let's talk more about the "real life" aspects.
But before I do, let me tell you my set-up:
I have an external HD from Seagate that I use to store my music (in case my laptop HD crashes and I lose all my music...anyways, 40GB of HD space is a helluva lot). So, I use the 40GB as a back-up of my music.
I'm getting the iPod shuffle for portability, so soon, this 40GB is staying home, permanently on it's dock, hooked up to speakers. This will also free up my laptop RAM, so it will run faster.
Ok, so the user aspects:
1. Only buy the 40GB if you have a massive music collection. I have more music than 90% of the population, and I still have plenty of room to grow. Most people would have problems filling up even an iPod 20GB.
2. The headphones SUCK. I've already blown them out, so that if I turn the volume up, I get horrible distortion. Not that I'm crying; the audio quality was pathetic anyways. I assume that anyone with enough music for a 40GB is inherently an audiophile, so buy new headphones. For portability issues, an in-ear headphone is probably best, but at home, an over-the-ear can't be beat.
3. It is a pain trying to turn up the volume/rewind/ffw, especially since you have to take the iPod out of purse/pocket, adjust, and then put it back in. Buy the remote.
4. As soon as you take the plastic off the iPod, you will scratch it. Put it in protection ASAP. I personally use a hard case by Contour, mainly because I want to give it a fighting chance in case I drop it (and considering that it's actually a big hefty, it would be easier to drop than a slimmer 20GB or a much smaller iPod mini).I also kept the plastic on the clickwheel - it doesn't hinder functionality.
5. Due to the rash of iPod thefts, you may want to buy a clip to keep your iPod attachd to your purse/pants. Again, if you have a remote, this is not a big issue.
6. Battery life is low; no way around it if you have a lot of files and you are going through them manually. Turn off the backlight if at all possible, or keep it to 5 seconds.I get maybe 3 hours with 5 second backlight and manually going through my music.
7. If you really want to know all the ins-and-outs of the iPod, get the Missing Manual for the iPod.
8. Get ready for your life to change in the best way possible. As a 40GB-er, we live, eat and breathe music, so no one will appreciate the iPod as much as we do.
8 ipod extraordinary, itunes extraordinarily primitive
I've got to admit that I was lured into the hype of having an ipod and I haven't been significantly disappointed with the design and functionality of my precious. However, making my ipod into a working music library has been an extremely time consuming and frustrating experience. iTunes has half the features of the Windows Media player and the features that it is missing are the very ones that make sorting through hundreds of music tracks and artists a speedy and organized process. In my darkest hours I wished that Gates would don his corporate bandit disguise to rip-off the ipod concept. On the positive side, if you have been "apple pure" for the entirity of your computer existance you won't know what you are missing.
9 Why has the 40 GB IPOD been discontinued?
The 40 GB IPOD is no longer available thru Amazon nor apple.com. I called a retail store and they said it is discontinued in order to make the 30 GB photo IPOD "more attractive" Does anyone know if apple is about to debut a new generation of IPODs? Why discontinue the 40 GB why not discontinue the 20 GB? Any insight would be helpful...still want a 40 GB.
10 Minus one star for price! Album fan converted to shuffle!
I would have given 5 stars as the best mp3-type player, but the price really is high compared to many other mp3 players. I think I should have gotten the 60 GB photo version as long as I was spending a pretty good chunk of change on an iPod. I have seen the color screen versions, and it is worth it. It will show the album cover of the song you are playing, and you have the ability to show and store photos. The games and menu screens are all in color and look much better than the monochrome screen. However, I still love my monochrome iPod as I can carry my entire music library with me wherever I go. I have a lot of CDs, and I thought I would never fit my entire library on there. I am really close to putting all my CDs on iPod, and I have about 20 GB left. I think I will have about 11 GB free after getting all of my CDs loaded on there.
I have also found the shuffle feature to be fun on long drives or walks. I am a fan of albums and listening to them beginning to end, but when you load you favorite albums on an iPod...you can't go wrong with shuffle. It is like having your own personal DJ who loves and plays your favorites.
I play it at work and in the car. I usually have iTunes playing on my computer while I am surfing the net and checking email. I have also found that iTunes offers pretty good deals on albums at $9.99. I highly recommend iPod, but I would consider the color screen version as long as you are spending the money on an iPod.
11 Hey Apple! Put yer engineers on the dangydang earphones!!!
I-Pod. Yeah it's all that. The sound is great, it hold a bazillion songs which you can put into your own little playlists. It does lots of cool things. This big one, which I have, is smooth and solid. It plays forever on a charge, looks groovy and my friends think I'm hip. However, the little wonky earphones are such a disappointment. They hurt. Anything that deforms the cartilage in your ears is going to eventually hurt. Is there any way around this that retains the cool image of having the white earphones on? I've seen the "in ear" earphones, and have read the "insertion" advice for the standard earphones (Danger!Danger, Will Robinson!!) and I am still dubious. Come on Apple. You pride yourself on styly design. You can do better than this.
12 Don't buy it if you have Windows ME
I bought the IPOD based on reputation and the fact that Apple sells an accessory to connect to my living room stereo amplifier. I have a Windows ME computer. I spent 1 week trying to make it work (downloaded IPOD Software 2.0 which is incompatible with the Apple 40 GB iPod, read a bunch of hack advice to try and load drivers, tried using it on my work computer - IPOD doesn't work on Windows NT machines either)and then sent it back to Amazon in frustration. Apparently Apple doesn't view us Win ME folks sophisticated enough to own and operate an IPOD.
So for half the price I bought a Rio Karma 20 GB which includes everything you need to connect to both your computer and home hi fi. Within 5 minutes I had this toy humming on both my Win SE and hi fi. And the interface is just like your average Win vs. Mac interface, no the most elegant, but straight forward functionality.
Hey - I don't want art, I want easy access to my otherwise unmanageable collection of CDs. And that's what you get at a great price.
13 This is by far the most innovative gadget I've ever owned
If you don't need 10,000 songs worth of space get the 20 or smaller memory iPod, it's much cheaper. This one though is perfect for me. I just keep on downloading my favorite music and there is still plenty of room.
The Apple Click Wheel is so user friendly and makes access to all this memory so efficient and easy.
You can organize your playlists with your own criteria. For example if you're going to the gym and want songs that are quicker in tempo you can even arrange them by beats per minute. You can shuffle your favorites and be surprised if you're hiking, or arrange by popular ballads, classical or club music depending on your mood.
The ratio of 12 hours of battery life to the compact size and light weight of the iPod make carrying cd players around absolutely obsolete. And if it only took me minutes to figure out how to use it, it will barely take you seconds.
The only thing I don't like are earbuds but you can easily trade those out for small sport headphones.
14 A Music Lover's Essential Hardware
I've owned a 20GB iPod for 6 months and now that it's full, I'm replacing it with this 40GB version, now, before it's no longer available. This Amazon price is a real bargain. This model was just discontinued and replaced with the more expensive iPod Photo that comes in only 2 sizes: 30GB and 60GB. I don't care about displaying photos, so this 40GB is what I need.
Although it has its (minor) faults, I love the iPod and I use it every single day -- when running on my treadmill, working around the house, doing yard work, and reading in bed. I have ripped (converted) over 400 of my CDs and put all that music on my iPod. I've never had it freeze up on me, but once I had to reformat it after an error occured when copying songs to it. That's pretty disgusting, but it didn't take too long to reformat it and copy my music library to it again.
Here are some comments or pointers you might find helpful:
* Plan to buy some good headphones. Maybe they're OK for some people, but I find the included ear buds highly uncomfortable and unusable.
* If you have a Windows PC, make sure you have Windows XP or you're willing to upgrade to XP. The iTunes software that manages your music library won't run on Windows 98.
* You don't have to buy tunes from the Apple iTunes store in order to use your iPod Apple makes it confusing because they use the same name "iTunes" for both their music store and the software that manages your music library on your computer. I've never bought a song. I use the iTunes program for ripping my CDs (converting them to computer files that get loaded onto the iPod), and organizing all of those songs.
* If you have a lot of music, you may end up buying a larger disk drive. If you want to fill your 40GB iPod, you'll need at least 40GB of free disk space, obviously. I got a 120GB drive, and now I plan to get a 2nd 120GB drive to use for backup. Trying to back up this much data onto CDs just isn't practical, and I don't want to have to rip over 400 CDs again if my drive goes bad!
* Get a padded carrying case. Before I got one, I dropped my iPod a couple of times and I feel very lucky that it continued working. Case Logic makes a great, small, padded nylon case with a belt loop and removable arm band. (I think Case Logic makes the best-designed cases for cameras, laptops, and other devices, by the way).
* You'll probably want to get adapters for playing your iPod through your home stereo and car stereo. After all, when your entire CD collection is in a unit the size of a deck of cards, why would you want to lug around old-fashioned physical CDs anymore? I got a generic brand cassette player adapter for playing the iPod in my car's cassette player. And a simple "stereo miniplug to RCA plugs" adapter from Radio Shack will let you enjoy the continuous play and shuffle features on your home stereo. Don't pay exorbitant prices for these accessories -- just go to Radio Shack and tell them what you want to do.
* When you set up your iPod and install the software for the first time (at least on a Windows PC), it is pretty confusing. I'm an expert computer user, and I had difficulty getting through it and had to start over a couple times. I can't believe how lame the user interface and the instructions are for this process! But once you get through it and you start using iTunes to manage the music on your iPod, it's a much better experience.
* I've read complaints that the instruction booklet is not thorough enough. That is true. But there is a complete manual on the CD that comes with the iPod. When you install the software from the CD, I don't think the User Guide is copied from the CD to your computer, so it's no wonder people never see it. So make sure you look on the CD for the User Guide PDF file.
* It took me forever to figure out how to shuffle the songs within an album, but you can do it. Doesn't Apple test the user interface on real people before releasing an important product? Apparently not. It's confusing because there are 2 Shuffle options on the menus. The "Shuffle Songs" option on the main menu is what most people see and use. It shuffles all the songs on your iPod, which is great fun. But if you want to play just one album and shuffle the songs that are on that album, you have to go to the Settings menu. On the Settings menu, there is a Shuffle setting with 3 options: Songs, Albums, Off. If you select Songs, then exit the Settings menu, and then play an album or playlist, the songs within the album or playlist are played in shuffled order (yay!). If you select Albums, then albums are played in shuffled order (but not the songs within the albums) when you play a series of albums.
* I've read complaints that when you shuffle songs, you get things like audio books playing in your shuffle mix. You can avoid this from happening by using a combination of the song information (tags), playlists, and the above tip on how to shuffle songs within a playlist. For example, make sure all your audio books have something in common in one of their tag items (e.g., make sure the Genre includes the word "book" for each of your audio books) -- you can do this in iTunes with the "Get Info" operation. Then create a playlist named "Just Music", say, by selecting all files where Genre does not contain "book". Now, you can play your "Just Music" playlist in shuffled order (see the above tip). You can use the same idea to create playlists of classical music only, rock music only, etc., so that you don't get an ear-shattering Jimi Hendrix jam in the middle of your bedtime soft music shuffle! Why doesn't Apple read peoples' complaints here at Amazon and elsewhere, then improve their software, User Guide and on-line help? Sometimes I think I should be the product marketing manager for the iPod, but then I'd have to move back to the Silicon Valley. No thanks! LOL!
* Like so many others, I guess, I just love playing all of my thousands of songs in shuffle mode. I never know what's coming next, but I know it's something I will like, because it's from my music collection. It's surprising how many songs I can't identify, because they are from CDs I don't play that often. It's a solitaire game of Name That Tune! And I have discovered some great songs that I never really noticed before, simply because they are played out of context from the rest of the CD that they appear on.
So, although the installation, some of the user interface, and the available instructions are sometimes brain-dead, the iPod itself is an incredible device. For an extreme music lover like myself, I'd almost say it's "life changing", but that may be going a bit overboard!
15 It was five stars until the iPod Photo came out
I just can't seem to fill this thing up. I have loaded over a thousand songs, backed up my iPhoto and still have room. It is my constant companion and the address book is a handy item. The only thing I don't like is the ear buds (too big for my ears) so I replaced them with some Sony ear buds. They aren't white, but they are comfortable. I used to love my 6-disc in dask CD player. Now I never have CDs in it.
16 Simplicity is not.............
The ipod is another example of the big companies trying to control the market. This piece of hardware is too delicate, unreliable and expensive. One of my major shocks was to find out that the sound has no bass and treble adjusters, no enhancement whatsoever and it sounds overall poor, flat and definitely harsh, also it has no built in radio tuner. True, it is a convenient piece of hardware, but the cost, complexity and absence of sound controls makes it another technical curiosity of our century. Stick to a good walkman and/or cd player, make your life easier, not complicated. Overall: MEDIOCRE.
17 An Apple a Day Keeps you Sane - Oh Yeah!
You Gotta Know This. The IPOD Rules! Why carry around the CDs in your car, etc.?? Save the Artists in your library. As far as the gym: I have gone walking with this: It's Great!--Working Out: It has a limited number of minutes for skip protection-then-you may need to reset. Push Menu and the Center button until you see the Apple appear. Its totally cool!! An Apple a day keeps the doctor away :)
18 FROZEN APPLES
Great Hardware - the best. Marginal software - itunes is mediocre and unwieldy!! Ive had my 40gig ipod 3 weeks and Ive reformated it twice. Im looking at my frozen apple ipod now again which wont re-boot. I have to reformat it. It hates big file downloads in the juvenile cradle. If one music file in your 30 gig collection happens to lose its link while being downloaded to your "one-way" ipod it might freeze the ipod to the core. !!!! Not possible to use this proprietary machine with anything but lowly itunes. Stick to MP3 - uses less space and easier to handle big files. An Apple MP3 player wouldnt be bad. GOOD LUCK !! Shooperman Age 45
19 Why to buy an iPod
The 40 GB iPod, what a wonderful toy! I started off wanting this product back when I found out how impressive iTunes was in storing music. I'm sure other products play music just fine or even create play lists on the fly. iTunes just does it all and ripping and burning CDs just makes it seem so easy. This is a long way from the old days where you had to purchase software to rip a CD and then purchase a program to burn a CD. Although I will recommend ripping all your songs in MP3 format with the highest bit rate of 192 or 360.
Now on to the iPod, I received this as a Christmas gift, which I'm sure made a dent in my parent's pocket but thanks! I had the device setup and synced with iTunes in 10 minutes. It comes with a wall charger, USB cable, Firewire cable, headphones, and of course a setup CD. The only thing I don't like about this is the wall charger uses my Firewire cable and I constantly have to unplug it from the wall to make sure I can sync my iPod on the run. The black shield cover for the headphones also keeps falling off so you should just put them back in the box when you get a chance.
Moving on to operational ability, firstly the dial is pretty nice to maneuver around. However when you do try to do some of the push button functions in which you have to hold down for five seconds it gets difficult. Turning it off requires that you hold down the play/pause button that ends up either playing or pausing or seeking forward or backwards. The same goes for the lighted interface, it's just too hard to use these buttons. The backlight doesn't even stay on while you're trying to browse for a song, it'll just turn off.
In addition to this Apple hasn't added any common functionality of iTunes into the iPod, for example zero second pre-gap or fade into next song. This is incredibly useful to listen to CDs that are continuous such as classical, some rock, and trance songs. Apple can fix this in two seconds with a firmware upgrade but chances are they won't. So why buy one? Buy an iPod because it has great sound output, a great interface with iTunes, playlists are a breeze to setup, and because even with it's flaws it surpasses all the other MP3 players on the market.
20 Love It--Read This for the Contacts You'd Like to Transfer
Nothing to add all previous praises: it's the best! I also want to help out Microsoft XP/ Outlook users, who'd like to transfer their contacts onto their iPods. The advice Apple gives does NOT work: "drag your contacts to the 'Contacts' folder once you can see your iPod as a 'hard drive' in 'My Computer' " This did NOT work. Rather, I had to open each contact I wanted to transfer manually, and then click on "save as a Vcard" under the "File" tab. It lets you determine the saving destination, which then you choose as the Contacts folder in your iPod. Hope this helps.
21 I love my iPod!
I've had my iPod for almost 6 months and have had absolutely no problems with it, except for a CHKDSK error that occured one time in Windows. However, after some research online, I figured out how to correct that and it now works fine.
I currently have 2200 songs on my 40 gig. iPod and have TONS of disk space left. I will probably run out of space on the hard disk on my computer before I fill up the iPod! I've stayed busy importing my big CD collection and still have a lot to go.
I'm thrilled with the sound quality, both through the headphones and the docking station on my home stereo. My only complaint is you can't shuffle playlists, as mentioned previously. The smart playlists make up for this somewhat, though, since you can set your criteria and iTunes will create a playlist based on that. Also, the shiny back scratches extremely easily. I did invest in the carrying case (Apple charges big bucks for their accessories), which is fine for exercising and protecting the iPod, but you have to remove the iPod from the case to adjust the sound or skip a song.
A word about Apple's customer service: My daughter got a 20 gig. iPod and we had some problems getting the software installed. I called Apple for assistance and got a really snotty customer service rep. who informed us we got ONE phone call for free and then we had to purchase the Apple Customer Care package! Considering the price they're charging for this little gadget, they ought to provide better customer service. I was NOT impressed with their service.
My iPod syncs up perfectly with iTunes and updates really quickly, even in Windows. All in all, I'm very satisfied. I would recommend this to any music lover!
22 Great MP3 player, but not without flaws
I love my iPod, but there are some there are problems, along with things Apple didn't consider, but should have. First of all, as another reviewer said, it is very fragile. I have never dropped my iPod, and suddenly underside of the case is popping out a little bit. I have no explanation for it. Second, Apple should've taken into consideration, such as people who put audio books or lessons onto their iPods; I did and I don't want to have to constantly skip them when I'm shuffling through my song library. Finally, the head phone design could've been better. Since it hangs so far in front when I'm listening to something, all I have to do is stand up for the cord to get caught on any number of things and have the earpieces snap out of my ears. I'm surprised they still work after this happening as often does, so I guess they deserve credit for that.
There are other small, somewhat understandable flaws (ie. lag). Overall, I recommend this for people who have tons of music, and also this particular model because it comes with free stuff. The quality of the organization system is very poor though.
23 Here is the latest news about iPod 40 GB and iPod photo
You should be looking at iPod photo 30 GB instead of this product, from now onwards!
Today (23 Feb 2005), Apple announced a major change in its iPod lineup and here is how it affects iPod 40 GB and iPod photo models:
> iPod 40 GB is discontinued
> iPod photo 40 GB is discontinued
> iPod photo 30 GB (new product) replaces the 40 GB iPod photo and the regular iPod 40 GB
> iPod photo 60 GB now costs $150 less -- $449 instead of $599
> iPod photo 30 GB costs $349 ($150 less than iPod photo 40 GB and $50 less than regular iPod 40 GB)
> iPod dock ($39), AV cable ($19), carrying case ($29), and firewire cable ($19) do not ship with iPod photo (you may not really need them)
> Now we get three things with iPod photo: earphones, USB based AC adapter, USB 2.0 cable
> In additon to the above, a firewire cable continues to ship with iPod 20 GB & iPod U2 edition
> iPod photo Camera Connector is introduced - this can be used for connecting your digital camera directly to the iPod
Since I have iPod 40 GB as well as iPod photo 60 GB, I strongly recommend iPod photo for those who are looking beyond the iPod 20 GB. The color screen has much better resolution and it also has a scrolling feature for long texts. Of course, the ability to store and view the photos is a great value addition too.
24 Great yet disappointing
I received my new IPOD 40gb player about 3 weeks ago, it is a great looking player, very compact in size, and it sounds great. I also purchased the FM Modulator connector cable for the car, I have no complaints about the sound quality or the quality of the product.
But BEWARE if you want to manage your own music!! I wanted to combine my music into one smaller player in size, but larger in capacity... the Apple IPOD makes it very difficult to set your music up the way you want it on your player! IPOD forces you to do it their way, period.
When you plug in the ipod it goes about erasing and transferring files, there is an option to disable to automatic updates, but I still can't figure out how to make it transfer manually... it has even erased files off my hard drive!
Plus there's no way to erase a file on the fly off the IPOD itself while playing... ugh!
BASICALLY What I'm saying is this is a great looking and sounding unit, but I will never buy another one again... it's so much easier with other MP3 players to build everything on your computer then drag and drop the whole directory on to the MP3 player, and IPOD is very deficient in this area. I am forced to use it as a "Shuffle Player", because I could never find anything on it.
25 Playlists and audiobooks
The interface is fun to use. But, after I spent a ton of time importing my CD collection, which includes books on CD, I discovered that you can't shuffle playlists. What does that mean? It means that I could only shuffle the songs in one "album" or alternatively ALL of the "songs" which include excepts from books on CD. There is a category called audiobooks on the ipod, but according to customer service I can't convert the books on CD which I imported to that format. I can only buy them online at audible.com or itunes for them to be imported into that category; which category also allows you to speed up or slow down the reading (so I'm out on that feature as well). Strangely enough I can designate them as "books/spoken" on itunes, but they are still categorized as songs. So I guess I would have had to go through and change all of my Latin albums to one album etc., if I want to shuffle the songs as a playlist. My brother has a third generation ipod which he says will shuffle playlists. I suppose they have a deal with audible.com, and they want you to have to buy the ipod shuffle to shuffle one of your playlists. Incidentally the ipod randomly paused itself without touching any buttons (with 'hold' switch on or off) so I had to return it.
26 Apple iPod Rocks
Love the iPod. Very easy to use both iTunes and the iPod. 40GB to much space, so go for 20GB model. Battery life lesser than 12 hours, but even 6 hours is plenty. iPod gets dirty easily, need to get case. Get one from iSkin.com
iPod Rocks. A MUST HAVE.
27 Place on pedestal; do not use.
I am writing to submit a frank, personal, and very negative account of my 40 gig iPod purchase. I bought it from an Apple Store and only about 2 weeks later it broke irreparably. The facts, in complete honesty, are: It slipped off a coffee table (me + headphones went one way; iPod followed) and onto a CARPET, and when I picked it up the screen was cracked. The fall was about 2 feet onto a padded surface. I have never heard of such fragility in any portable music device before (think of, say, the LCD screen on your cell phone). When I contacted Apple Repair services, they said to mail it in for repair under the warranty. After I'd sent in the iPod, I got a terse emailed response from Apple saying that defects due to external causes do not fall under the warranty. Moreover, they would not repair the iPod even for charge since, in their view, the repairs would cost more than buying a new unit. What I have now is literally a piece of trash.
I recognize the logic of claiming the damage is due to an external defect. But again, I repeat to you: the iPod was hardly even JIGGLED. I feel like Apple just robbed me of $400, and now tells me blithely to piss off (now that they have my money). I have never before experienced such an outrageously ill-designed product nor such aggressively adversarial support service.
Do not buy this product.
28 Second iPod that I own. The iPod is the greatest invention
First I started off with a iPod Mini (silver), which I thought was the greatest piece of electronics in the universe. For Christmas this year my father, who didn't know that I owned the Mini, bought me the 40G iPod. I gave the Mini to a friend of mine and kept the 40G. I am glad that I did because I put my ENTIRE CD collection on this niffty little gadget. I have a pretty decent collection too. I have nearly half of the hard drive space to spare!! The only difference between the 40G and the Mini that I has noticed is that it takes only a slightly longer time to skip between songs. Maybe 2 seconds more!! That's it 2 seconds. I am not concerned with this at all. I consider it a fair trade between being able to put sooooo many song on this Bad Lad. It still has a delay between songs no matter what you do. So if you are listening to a live album there is a short pause between songs. This is the only minor beef that I have with this VERY well designed machine. Buy an iPod today!! You will not regret it. Check out my other reviews to see some of the accesories that I (or my friends) have purchased, used, or returned. There are some non-Apple vendors selling some garbage iPod accesories. So buyer beware!!!!
29 What is the hype all about - this thing is OVERRATED
I just bought one and feel ripped off. The user experience is terrible if you want to use the iPod to listen to audiobooks and to store data on the device. It tries to take over your machine with iTunes, and doesn't let you copy any files from the iPod to the computer - in short, you can't really use it as a portable hard drive. I'm giving this thing away and going back to my Creative Jukebox. Don't you people know there are better devices out there? This one seems to be getting by on looks and branding alone - just an awful user experience.
30 No gapless playback!
That's right. What can a 10$ cd player do that a 400$ iPod can't? Gapless playback.
For anyone who is a huge fan of flowing albums where the tracks go from one to the next without pausing (the Beatles Abbey Road or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon), or a fan of live albums or continual club remixes, you will have an unpleasant surprise with the iPod. For there wil be a 1-2 second gap inbetween the songs. Apple will tell you this is a flaw with the MP3 and AAC format that can't be fixed. This couldn't be further from the truth. For example, Winamp and the Rio Karma player can do gapless playback just fine.
iTunes itself has crossfading, but it is inferior to gapless playback. To get around this, one must convert albums or live shows that flow together into one giant track. This in itself causes problems. First of all, you lose the ability to have those individual tracks in the shuffle feature. You also wear down the battery by having to manually forward to the songs you want on that one long file. Add to this that the iPod doesn't like huge files.
This is a huge problem for any serious music fan. The iPod is just about a perfect product. But sadly it can't do what a 10$ cd player does. When one pays 400$ for a device specifically meant for music playback, it should perform to the ability of devices that are 2% of it's cost.
Sadly I had to take my iPod back. Since the Rio Karma has hard drive issues it looks like im waiting for the iPod and other devices to create gapless playback. Come on guys.
31 Overpriced, overengineered.
Costs way too much, but is essentially the perfect walkman I dreamed of in highschool.
Should come with a case (absolutely needs one). I liked my old mp3 player where I could see song bit rates, drag and drop songs straight from Windows, and set custom equalizers. But this player is so unobtrusive and functional that I can give up those geeky features.
White electronics will also be "so 2005" one day.
32 Hefty price, below average battery life haven't impressed me
...after paying about $400 for the iPod, I believe that the engineers should have done a better job on the battery design. The unit I purchased runs out of steam every two hours (I have and do take all the precautions/suggestions offered on Apple's Support website), well below what Apple claims in its documentation. Be sure to read at least some of the articles about saving battery power on their support website (I should say that their support website is excellent!!!!!!!!). This site has a plethora of artciles which have been useful to me. One more note about the battery, make sure you use the equalizer settings only when you need them. Using the equalizer for an extended period of time has a profound effect on the life of the battery.
Besides this, one has to spend a good deal of money on accessories if you plan to use this device in your car on long road trips. A couple of accessories are available (e.g. Sony's cassette adapter and Griffin Technology's iTrip). You have to shell out another $20/$35 if you choose to purchase either of these. In my opinion the performance of the iTrip has been well below average. The signal is lost if you are driving in an area where there is no FM reception. All attempts to get the device working without experiencing static were in vain.
I did purchase the carrying case for the iPod offered on Apple's website. For a company as good as they claim to be, I can't believe they don't have enough photographs of the accessory they are selling. I chose the carrying case with the belt clip based on the description and solitary picture available on the website. I was *very* disappointed to find that one has to get the iPod out of its carrying case to even access any of the controls. This is because the case covers both the front and the back of the iPod and I can't fathom why in the world someone would design a carrying case that will not allow the user to even view, let alone control the settings without having to pull the device out of the case...very bad design indeed (in my opinion)...
A note on the iTunes software...I believe Apple has done a good job in this area. For new users who are not accustomed to using a software application to create libraries and organize their music, using iTunes might turn out to be frustrating and intimidating too. However, Apple's support website has a lot of articles that can help you get accustomed to using it. I was very annoyed the first time when I downloaded iTunes, it didn't appear user friendly to me, however with time and practice I learned to use it and I should say it has turned out to be a favorite of mine.
To sum it up, yes this is a slick device, lots of hard-drive space (40GB can turn out to be a good source of back-up for your computer's hard drive!!!!!!!!), has some good features where you can store your contacts (the good thing about storing contacts is you can create a .vcf file using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express or any other software application that can create .vcf files and download it to the iPod) and also features a calendar which I believe comes in handy for those people who like to use it as a substitute for a digital assistant. It can also double up as an alarm clock :)....*but*, engineers at Apple seriously need to revisit their battery design. For $400 I would have expected to see better battery life on these devices. I have rated this product at 2 stars for the reasons mentioned above, however, if Apple does improve its battery design I would still give it only 4 stars the reason being, lack of an accessory that will allow users to use the iPod in their automobiles and obtain CD quality sound...
33 Love, Love, Love it
The 40 gb iPod is superior to all the rest. It is so easy to use (after the initial setup and some tinkering, have some patience it is not as confusing as I thought). I doesn't skip (I run and never have a problem.) I charges fairly fast and doesn't run down quick. I do wish it came with a clip and better manual but....other than that it's great Itunes is easy and if you get you music from "other" sources it is very easy to import it! Get it it is well worth it!
34 I thought I would get a little more for four hundred bucks!!
Apparently four hundred dollars just buys you the bare bones. there isnt a carrying case included with this ipod. In addition, unlike the ipod mini there is no clip that you can attach to your pants, so you had better have pockets. On the up side they did give small headphones so you can actually listen to it. Furthermore, I found the intunes software annoying. If you just have one ipod and one computer and like to keep all 40 gigabytes of your music on your computer then it works fine. However, otherwise its just plain annoying. the ipod automatically updates and deletes all your songs that are still not on your computer, if you are using two computers make sure you put your ipod on manually. it works well enough after you figure everything out although I find it annoying to use my ipod mini and this ipod and the same computer. More annoying is that the ipod tutorial and manual tells you nothing. You pretty much have to search on google to find anything. also organising you songs is automatic but if you want it organize it your own way it takes some time. Overall this is not a bad product but for 400 bucks i thought i would get a lot more.
35 looks pretty but...
Bottom line I have had to have my iPod replaced three times, for the same problem, until apple finally refunded my purchase. Maybe the old ones were good- but not the new ones.
36 The best MP3 player available
I've had several MP3 players before and recently switched to the iPod. To my suprise, the quality of the music sounded better on the iPod compared to my older players, even though the files were the same. I heard subtle sounds in the music whereas before I hadn't. I'm not an expert with MP3 encoding, but I assume the iPods decoding algorithms are superior to the other players I've owned.
I once dropped my iPod while listening to music (it hit the ground hard) but the music never skipped a beat!
The iPod also act as your PDA. It has native support MS Outlook "vCard" files, so you can have your contact information on your iPod. You can also add notes and calendar items. Third-party software that helps manage this are Pod2Go and iPodSync. Amazingly, you can get RSS newsfeeds on your iPod as well!
The previous generation of iPod players had short battery problems. Thankfully, that problem has been eliminated with the 4th generation. I use the iPod quite a lot each day, and only have to charge ever other day.
There are a lot of gadgets available for the iPod. I think one of the most useful one is the Belkin Digital Camera Link that turns your iPod into storage space for your digital photos. This allows you to move your pictures off camera onto iPod's hard drive via USB cable. Great if you're traveling and taking a lot of photos!
The iPod is a bit pricier than the competition. But then again, there is a lot of third-party support for it compared to the competition. Companies like Bose and JBL have portable speakers specifically built for iPods. The competition can only dream of getting support like that!
I absolutely love my iPod. I think I'm getting "attached" to it. That's how great it is. Highly recommended!
37 Way too expensive for its features- Get Archos Gmini 400
Having owned the ipod for 8 months now, I decided to try another product. Anyone who buys an ipod only want it for the beauty and not its purpose. "dont judge a book by its cover." Sure the ipod looks very beautiful on the outside but look, you're paying premium price for just the looks and not the features. However, the Archos Gmini 400 is more than 50 dollars less than this ipod and look! its the same size and weight as the 20 gig ipod with video playback, photo, voice recording features. People who buy ipods are just trying to "get with the crowd" and do not realize the pettiness of its features. Get the Archos Gmini 400.
38 Great Device
I purchased the 40GB Ipod a few months ago and quickly downloaded about 300 cd's into it. I can take my stereo anywhere and just plug it into any car stereo, home stereo, you name it. It did take a little getting used to using the hold button so the battery wouldn't run down. Did find the manual lacking in directions. Have read some reviews about it skipping and I use it every day to go running. It does skip if you jiggle it around too much. If you put in in a hip holder or in a pocket it skips. If you use the armband designed for the ipod, it never skips, less jostling. Also does lock up every now and then, sometimes too cold, sometimes low battery.
Otherwise, love the thing, great investment.
39 Love it!
I have had this iPod (my first) for two months now, and I love it! It is easy to use, and to sync with my iTunes library on my laptop. In addition to putting all my CDs on, I have been getting many audible.com books to listen to when I travel for business - it really makes the time go by!
The only shortcoming I have found is the earbuds, which are painful to wear for any length of time and can disturb those around you. I use Bose sound-cancelling headphones on the plane, and Sennheiser headphones for walking around or in my hotel. I use cables to hook it up to my stereo at home, and the sound quality is fine. The only place I have complaints is in my car; the FM transmitters don't seem to work, and I have yet to find a good solution.
In short, this is a great product, and easy to use for someone with only moderate technical know-how. The only thing I recommend is to think about how much memory you really need, and don't pay for more than you need. The 20 gig iPod, or even the 4 gig mini may be fine for many users.
40 The music revolution continues
I love my Ipods, plain and simple. The reason that I like them better than any other player is that I am fortunate enough to have access to Macintosh computers. With the combination of Ipod and Mac using iTunes, there is nothing better for a massive music collection. The reason: iTunes! It's simply the best interface BY FAR (and I've used 'em all, well most of them). Because I love music and use my Ipods to organize and preview music for two radio shows I produce, I really want a device that is optimized for music listening and music organization, and this is it. No iRiver or Creative Zen product comes close for music when you consider how good iTunes is at organization, generation of playlists, burning of cd's, selection by artist, genre, album, rating, etc, etc, etc. If you need a device that does lots of things besides music, sure, the Archos or iRiver models are good, but if you want rock solid reliability, the best support out there and the best way to organize a large library, go Ipod only. And, consider purchasing a Mac now that you can get one for $499. to organize your music if for no other reason. More than likely, you'll soon become a Mac person...I still have my Windows computer, it even has the Windows version of iTunes on it but I much prefer my Mac for music, not to mention, photos, home movie production, and archiving all the above. It's just plain more reliable and easier. And compared to iRiver, Archos or Creative (Yes, I've owned ALL these brands), Apple is continuously supporting and upgrading their software to match. I've got an old iPod, first generation 5 gb unit that works just as well as the day I received it years ago and has the latest software on it! My 9 year old has used it with great luck for 7 months, and he's not that easy on electonic devices. Ipod is above the competition for simplicity, reliability and getting the job done day in and day out when it comes to music...
41 More than music...
I finally upgraded to a 40GB iPod after my old 2nd Generation 20GB ran out of space for my music. I think the iPod is the coolest thing ever- and I am proud to say I am one of the early adopters before it became pop culture. Given what I do, now I not only use my iPod for music, calendars, address book etc. I also use it to carry huge Photoshop files, and other files whenever I bring work home from the office. Kudos to Apple.
42 Just got it, so far so good.
After a bad experience trying to get the Creative Labs 30GB Nomad Jukebox up and running, I tried the 40GB iPod. The iPod was very quick and easy to get running. The iPod is alot pricier than the Nomad, but to me it was worth it. I've only had it a few days now, but no complaints.
43 Wait for the next generation
I have a desktop and 2 laptops and
several external hard-drives of
various sizes and capacities.
My CD collection easily fills a 20 GB
drive in compressed 128 MP3 format.
That's over 500 albums.
This is nothing more than a hard-drive
with slimware to drive it (SMT Tech).
I can build one myself but it's not worth
the trouble.
The problem is moving parts in a portable
device, not to mention the fact that the
moving parts are ALWAYS moving. One bump
the wrong way while the unit is running and
you might as well light your smokes with
100 dollar bills.
EEPROM units in the GB range are just around
the corner, so save your money until the
industry comes out with a dedicated
No Moving Parts (NMP) unit in the GB range.
This unit is almost built to die in 3 years
or less. It sort of reminds me of the
Vega and the Pinto.
44 Great for the Technologically Inept
I love music, but hate computers and gadgets. As long as your computer has the juice to work with the iPod (my previous one didn't and I had to return the iPod), the iPod is extremely easy to use in turns of loading and playing music. I shied away from this for a long time (probably a good thing, since there seems to have been problems with the earlier models), but I love this thing. You will definitely need a case or a silicone-based "skin" to cover it; otherwise it will get scratched. The shiny metal sides and back look great, but you have to take great care when they are uncovered. The XtremeMac clip case is the best I've found so far. If you love music and have the $400 to spend on this, I would do it. Some of the other Amazon reviewers have some great tips, and I won't try to repeat them. My message is to those who might have worried that they won't be able to get this to work. You will.
45 Forget the Audible.com $100s
I thought I'd buy the ipod and get the $100 promotional certificate from audible.com. You have to call a telephone number. However, when you call audible.com, you are put on hold forever. Worse, you are tortured while waiting by someone reading an extremely boring and pompous book and after waiting 10 or 15 minutes, I still couldn't figure out what the book was or what it was about. It was enough to put me off of audible.com and in the process, deterred me from buying the ipod. I finally hung up without talking to anyone or getting the coupon number. Oh, well, maybe I'll wait for a better deal.
46 Your stupidity is not Apple's fault!
What is the deal with some of these reviews? "I smashed my iPod into the sidewalk and now it doesn't work! Apple sucks!" Are you people morons? Would you say the same thing if you smashed your $400 35mm camera into the cement? Would you blame the manufacturer of the camera for your clumsiness? Unbelievable!
47 There is nothing better than an iPod. Period.
I was always under the impression that the iPod was neat, but that there were better units out there for the money. At least that's how it looked to me. I was wrong. Very wrong.
The iPod is, hands down, the coolest player out there. It has a decent battery life (this has not even been an issue for me, but then again, I walk around with the thing in my Powerbook case and recharge it when it needs it) great performance, and above all it sounds fantastic. Apple made some great decisions with regards to the audio decoding hardware on board - I get all sorts of nasty artifacts on my Archos and Creative players during some songs, but those exact same files play great on the iPod.
Apple has one real winner here.
48 The best dawgon music player on the market
The real name sounds a little weird but its my moms account but now to the point. THE 40gig I pod rocks there is no mp3 player on the market. Personlly I dont see why people make such a big deal over the mini in my view this one is much cooler. Some words of advice though. Using the back light drains the power so fast so use it sparingly. Also the front and back look really cool but 1 week of usage and you start to see little scratches on it and smudges on the back so you should buy a case. Besides that its great it looks cool plays great holds more songs then you can shake a finger at and actually comes with good head phones unlike most mp3s that come with .50 cent ones. So in short This is the best I pod ever use it on a plane subway or at school it doesen't matter it looks cool and works great.
49 Now I understand the hype
Advertising and promotion of the iPod has reached ad nauseam. Then there was the same seeming swagger and contempt for the unwashed masses by iPod users that was seen by early cell phone users for their lesser beeper counterparts. Curious, I did the due diligence, kicked the tires and then purchased the G4 40 gig model. After owning one for a month I am now one of the zombies marching in lockstep and proselytizing. It starts with the iTunes software which is so elegant and seamless. Insert a CD in your computer and iTunes asks if you want to import it. It then rips it into compressed format at the bitrate you set. Just dock your iPod and if it's set to automatically sync, it imports the songs at lightning speed. Moments later you're good to go. The iPod itself is beautifully designed. The size, shape, heft, color and feel are perfect. It feels solid, substantial and elegant in your hand. (By contrast, I have an iRiver flash mp3 player which I also like for it's different purpose, but it feels like a piece of cheap plastic.) The chrome back and the white material on the front of the unit scratch very easily. So be sure to have a case when traveling and don't just toss it in your pocket with your keys and change. Controls are intuitive and the touch wheel amazing. I haven't bought any songs from the Apple store since I discovered a perfectly legal download site called allmymp3 that sells songs at one cent per meg or about five cents a song right now and have purchased at least fifty CDs without a hitch. So I highly recommend that site as well. Comments about the ear buds supplied are mixed. Personally I like them a lot, though I did also purchase the Sure E5C ear canal headset for times I want to really appreciate the music more than just casually. All in all, other players are cheaper and have features lacking here like FM reception. But nothing else compared for me.
50 Just a few other points
Just wanted to raise a few other issues that others havent mentioned.
First - I am extremely satisfied so far. Other than the price which I feel is around 100$ too expensive the drawbacks of the 40GB Ipod are pretty limited, esp if you are comfortable with Itunes. I upgraded from a 20GB creative Nomad Zen to this product for several reasons. 1) I liked the style, 2) My collection surpassed 20GB, 3) The Mini was sold out everywhere, and 4) I use an airport express to bridge my computer and stereo and wanted to simplify my software interfact (only Itunes instead of Itunes plus creative jukebox).
I had heard several times that the Ipod could not handle MP/ and only took AAC, this is simply not true at all. It plays MP3s with all the functionality of my old creative, and even adds the ability to insert start stop times on tracks - this is nice since I listen to a fair amount of rap and after a while those god aweful skits are horrible.
One drawback is that the device has a tendancy to freeze when someone presses multiple buttons at the same time. Granted this isn't a huge problem when Im operating it - but when you show the device to a friend they are likely to button mash - and that can result in a freeze. The problem is compounded by a lack of a self standing soft reset button. The only way to reset is to press the hold button and attach the AC adapter... This is fine while you are home or in a location where the proprietary AC is accessible, but on the road it means you will lose the ability to play music until you return home. Apple should include a littel paper clip accessible reset button.
This is a minor quibble though and overall the device is really excellent. By the way I am getting around 10 hours of play time on a charge... and I use the scree quite a bit with the backlight on. I would think a normal user could expect closer to 12 hours of continuous playtime.
Although there are several other devices that are probably just as cool and good, if you are a devout i-tunes user, I would suggest an ipod over competing brands.
51 Be VERY VERY Careful...or pay the price.
Le sigh..
I recieved this beautiful piece of equipment for Xmas (as im sure countless others have), and all seemed to work fine for the first few days. I hadn't had the chance to buy a case for it, but figured it would be okay for the first few days if I was very careful.
Unfortunately, after having it for about 6 days, i reached for it out of its plastic bag (which I was using to "protect" it from scratches) and it fell about 3-4 feet onto the ground. It cracked the LCD screen in half (not the glass), and now the screen is cut into fourths, with only two working in opposite corners. If I would have known, or seen a warning at least, that I absolutely HAD TO HAVE A CASE THE SECOND THAT I TOOK THE IPOD OUT OF THE BOX, I would have done so. Yet, now I am here with a functional, but difficult to navigate and ugly iPod.
Whats worse is that apple offers NO HELP with the LCD repair (you cant buy parts for it, and according to the helpline they dont offer the repair due to the cost). The warranty ONLY covers problems from their craftsmanship, and since it was my hand from which the iPod fell, its null in this situation. Just to have apple do anything to it, even if I made them fix it, it would cost $250+ because it is out of warranty.
The ipod is a great machine, and plays things beautifully and is extremely sexy. Its just a huge dissapointment when your $400 machine cant take a simple fall (which is odd considering how much fun those people seem to be having in those commercials, and how it should be a durable mobile device).
Sure, buy it. It works great. Just spend an extra $50 on a case and save yourself another $400.
52 Ipod Stinks
After working on getting Ipod to work properly for a week, the best it would do was skip like a three legged dog. After many reconfigures and downloads of soft ware updates. a visit to Apple's website told me oyhers were having similar problems. The final straw was calling Apple and being placed on hold for 45min only to have my call droped. Back to the store it went and good ridance.
53 Amaaaaaaazing...
With each generation of the ipod getting better and better, this one was no exception.
With enough room to store your entire music collection - every cd you and your entire family owns, and every song you've downloaded in the last 5 years - I'm sure this will be worth getting.
Battery life may be a tad short compared to previous versions. No one I have talked to has been able to come close to the advertised 12 hour battery life but I have personally been able to get about 5-7. From some of the other reviews I have noticed something about compression of the mp3 file makes the difference. I will have to play around with that and see what happens. Nevertheless, 5-7 hours is still plenty of time for me between charges to get my listening done - still worth it to me.
Having one for myself, I am planning on getting one for my father, and I'm sure this will by far be the best birthday present he has yet to receive. Sadly I had not the funds to purchase another device, so after my brother receieved one for a very small amount of effort via [...] I decided to give it a shot.
If you are really interested in this device but don't have the money or are not willing the spend such and exorbant amount, [...] and soon enough both yourself and my father will be basking in the joy of a free ipod!
Cheers!
54 Batteries still an issue
Let me start out by saying that I love my iPod overall, but the advertised "up to 12 hours of battery life" isn't even close to reality. The best I have been able to get is around 6 hours. At first I was only getting 4-5. After some searching around Apple's site I saw some information that claimed if you use low amounts of compression, the battery life will suffer. At the time I was using files with Apple's lossless compression. I converted the songs to AAC 128, and the life has improved to around 6 hours. But, under no circumstances can I ever get beyond that amount of time. I can't even fathom what scenario might give you 12 hours of life. This is really disapointing for me. I was using Archos units in the past that were giving me 8-12 hours of life all the time. It also seems to take more than 4 hours to charge. Usually 5-6 hours.
Other than the battery I am very happy with the unit. Controls and interface are much better than Archos units. A lot of thought went into the interface, as it is extremely user friendly.
As long as you use iTunes to organize and sync your iPod you should have no issues. You'll probably find that you need to tweak the artists and album names in iTunes to get your music organized on the unit the way you want it. Syncing with the dock and firewire is very quick. 6,500 files synced initially in about an hour and a half. After that daily syncs take no time at all.
Nothing like carrying 450 CD's in your pocket. Just wish the battery would give me a couple more hours.
55 iPod Changes my image of Apple
I have always been taught that the Apple is the Anti-Windows, a freezing computer with the whole computer inside the monitor. They were ugly until they came out with the pretty colors in the mid 90's.
The iPod has changed my outlook because my iPod has not frozen up yet, and i continue to be surprised at the things that it can do. Yes, it is a bit overpriced, and it is only compatible with iTunes. That means mp3's, WMA's, or anything else that is PC-based will not work with the little wonder. In that respect, it can take a long time to covert all of the music on your hard drive into the right format for iTunes. After you have all your music loaded onto your computer from your CD collection,(Simply insert into the CD drive, open iTunes, and press import on the CD screen) it is easy sailing. You can create playlists, listen to music, and rate your tunes. You can also sinc-up your iPod using the included dock. All of your music will go straight into it. This usually takes a few seconds it you haven't added any new CD's, or a few minutes if you have.
My whole CD collection, which takes up a lot of space, only takes up a little more than half of the 40 GB. If you have a small collection, I reccomend the 20 GB rather than an iPod Mini. The Minies are cute, but they cost only $50 less than the 20 GB, and only have 4 GB, which is a 4,000 song difference! Believe me, you will want to be buying new music for your iPod all the time. New tunes only cost $.99 each, or the whole CD for $10. That is cheaper than you could buy at the store, and you can choose which songs you actually want!!
There are some cons, however. It is difficult to figure out from the instructions how to add contacts and calendar dates. Also, the foam earbud covers fall off frequently, and can be difficult to put back on. I suggest investing in the In-Ear headphones from Apple. That will take away this con.
Overall, I would definately suggest the iPod for any Techie!!
56 iLove my iPod
I just received an iPod for Christmas and let me tell you, I love it! It's quite compact and cute, has huge amounts of storage space, has great sound, the list could go on all night...or at least for another minute or so. I take it with me everywhere I go, for example, the grocery store, the mall, the bathroom, work, church, my car, and even exercising. The shuffle mode is great because it provides a nice surprise with each new random song. Yes, it's a little on the expensive side, but after you realize how much more you get in return, you realize that you wouldn't have minded paying more!
57 iPod lover!
I LOVE MY NEW I POD! I JUST RECEIVED IT FOR CHRISTMAS AND ALREADY I HAVE DOWLOADED SO MANY SONGS AND IT WAS REALLY EASY! I DID WANT THE 20 GB IPOD BUT THEY WERE SOLD OUT NEARBY MY TOWN...AND ALSO I FIGURED THAT ITS BETTER TO BE SAFE WITH A 40GB...AND PLUS IT COMES WITH A DOCK WHICH MAKES IT EASIER FOR ME TO CHARGE AND PUT SONGS ONTO IT. ALSO..I LOVE ITUNES, IT IS SO EASY...BUT MAYBE ITS BECAUSE I HAVE AN IBOOK G4, BUT I THINK ITS REALLY EASY. ALSO I THINK THE SOUND QUALITY OF THE EARPHONES IS AWESOME! AND THE BATTERY LIFE ISNT AN ISSUE BECAUSE IM NOT GONNA SIT DOWN FOR 12 HOURS STRAIT AND LISTEN TO MUSIC. YEAH, THE BACK DOES FILL OUT WITH FINGERPRINTS...BUT IM NOT GOING TO WORRY ABOUT IT BECAUSE ITS NOT THE BACK THATS IMPORTANT...ITS THE MUSIC! AND ALSO, I LOVE THE GAMES ON IT...I RECOMMEND THIS TO TEENS...I LOVE IT AND ITS REALLY EASY TO USE...I LOVE MY NEW IPOD :-D!!!
58 Excellent Item!
It seems that the iPod was hands down the hottest Christmas gift of 2004. I went to Circuit City recently to look for accessories and they were completely sold out of everything from the units themselves, to all of the different accessories. I've never actually seen anyone who owns one on campus, so when I return in January, I expect that they'll be everywhere.
I opted for the 40GB version. A lot of people seem to go for the smaller hard drives because they claim they don't really need 40GB, but I think it has more to do with the price. Most people are biased towards the model that they own. Although I think they're all overpriced and the 400 dollars I shelled out for my model isn't that big of a difference compared to the others. I bought 40GB just to be safe.
Where do I start? For one, you MUST use iTunes in order to run your iPod, which is one of the biggest questions people seem to have. No, that doesn't mean you have to download your music from the iTunes store, as I think they're expensive and I have other ways of acquiring mp3s. I have an enormous collection of CDs and previously burned CD-R compilations, and it's great to be able to store them all on the hard drive and never have to worry about lugging around my CD collection ever again.
I want to note that while one of the major selling points of the 40GB iPod is its ability to hold 10,000 songs, you must remember that the amount of songs you can store isn't based on a number. It is based on the size of each file. About 90 percent of my mp3s are ripped at 192kps which is equivalent to CD quality sound, as opposed to the more popular 128kps, which compresses the files to where they lose quality. Some don't notice a difference, but believe me if you have a tendency to blast your music and prefer crystal clear sound, then you'll want the best quality possible for sure. I have about 1000 songs currently on my iPod and I've only taken up about 5GB worth of space. So if this remains consistent, I'll be able to squeeze around 8,000 songs on it when it's all said and done. Although the chances of me even finding 8,000 songs that I actually LIKE is very rare.
I've heard many horror stories about iPods freezing up, going dead, or bad sound quality. I haven't experienced any of these yet and from what I've heard, Apple is pretty good about accommodating the customers, so hopefully I'll not run into any real problems either way.
Supposedly the built-in battery only lasts for about a year and I believe it's 100 dollars to replace it. Although hopefully a year from now, the prices will drop a little bit. By next Christmas, I can see the iPods getting a bit of a price drop.
The ear buds are okay. A lot of people hate them but I don't really have any problems. However, my primary use of the iPod is in my car so it's of no real concern to me. If you have a cassette deck in your car, then a good adapter will run you about 20 bucks. I do not have a cassette deck in my car, so I had to invest in an FM transmitter which plugs into your cigarette lighter and uses an unused radio station to play the tunes. I bought a Monster Cable iCarPlay for 50 dollars through Amazon and it works fine and also charges your iPod while you use it. There are cheaper versions, but this one is the best. Circuit City sells the same thing for 75 dollars, so you're best to go with Amazon for that.
Back to the iPod model itself. It comes with everything you need to get it running. A charging dock, and USB and FireWire cables, headphones, and the iTunes software.
The chrome back is very annoying and will scratch very easily if you're not careful. Even if there are no scratches, just handling it will result in ugly fingerprints everywhere. It's almost as if Apple did this on purpose so we'd have to invest in a case. You'd think for the price we pay they'd throw that in. There are so many different ones and this was probably the hardest choice for me. I finally went with a iSkin eVo2 which has a screen cover, and allows me to access all of the outlets. They run about 25 to 30 dollars. Some cases do not protect your screen, and some of them cover up the entire iPod, making access to click wheel or the outlets difficult or impossible.
The biggest complaint people seem to have is about the battery life. Apple boasts that it'll last for 8 hours. I have yet to have mine drain out completely yet. Even before I had my FM transmitter, when I just used the headphones, I was in my car for 4 hours and the battery was only halfway drained. It seems that when you first use it, the bar will start going down quickly but then has a tendency to stop. If it's really that big of a problem, I'd suggest buying a battery pack which hooks onto your iPod. Someone else pointed out that battery life preservation has to do with the way you use your iPod. The less you use your backlight, and the less you fast forward or skip through songs, the longer your battery will last. Because of this, I always make playlists before I go out.
All in all, I think it's a great gadget and is well worth the investment, despite the current backlash that seems to be going on right now. My only complaint is the amount of money I've had to spend on extra accessories. Expect to spend another 100 dollars or so if you want a case, FM transmitter, and a car dock. I haven't bought a wireless remote yet, but probably will in a few months, and that'll run another 50 bucks. I give the product 5 stars easily.
59 C.D. player?!?!? It's more than that!
Just put the installation c.d. in your computer and then follow all the directions! That's practicly all you have to do to get songs on your iPod. I got mine for Christmas '04 and i have about a day and a half of music on mine! Just picture this... my brother had 33 hours of music on his computer and it was only 1.9 gbs! You have either like 4 gbs, 20gbs, or 40gbs! I have the 40gb one but it doesnt come in all the awsome colors(pink! o well! lyl seeyalaterz yallzers!
60 Fragile & Disposable
I dropped my 40 GB iPod in the sink for the briefest of moments. Believe me, the smooth shiny case is conducive to slipping out of hand or pocket. Water rushed into the docking port and the unit is toast. Naturally, water damage is not covered by the warranty.
But now the bad news ... it costs $249 plus $7 in shipping, or $256 to obtain a refurbished iPod (nothing is repaired), compared to $399 for a new 40 GB iPod (or $299 for the 20 GB model with the same repair charge). It is the same charge whether covered by warranty or not. There is NO credit for being under warranty whatsoever. Even a battery replacement is $99 plus $7 in shipping.
Apple product support personnel were matter of fact about the charge and the problem of water. One told me of an iPod destroyed by being splashed poolside. Another mentioned that he has raised internally the problem of water rushing into the docking port. Imagine walking around with an iPod in even a steady rain.
A friend has replaced her teenage son's iPod twice in a year due to breakage.
My conclusions - the 40 GB iPod is a fragile, expensive piece of equipment with arguably a design flaw. The excessive cost of repair/replacment undermines its attractiveness. It was my first Apple product and my last. Bad show Apple!
61 The iPod is good but....
Spent a bomb on the 40GB iPod (apparently the 20GB model is out of stock all over Singapore where I am at) and kinda regretting it, though I wont be giving it away to anyone. HAH!~! Anyway grouses currently are :
1. Songs cannot be transferred to PC which means only 1 way transfer from PC to the iPod is possible now! (installed 3rd party software does help.)
2. There is no cross-fading feature unlike some other players and no gap-less play. This means for those dance compilations or for albums like Pink Floyd's The Wall, expect some pause btw tracks. This is blamed on the MP3 format (but I wonder why other MP3 players can do it!) For gap-less play, Apple recommends all tracks be joined seamlessly into 1 large file. I cant search for a particular track like that!! There are petitions on plenty of sites asking Apple for this feature.
3. No Alphabetical Search feature which means all tracks have to be scrolled. So if you have thousands of artistes and bands, then good luck!
4. No casing or remote is given and they have to be purchased separately. These cost abt 68 bucks for remote PLUS another 40 - 80 bucks for the casing.
5. The iPod looks so scratch-able!! It's scary... what's the point of the iPod looking cool and sexy when it's wrapped up like a mummy. (that rhymes, take note)
6. The earphones are white... err.. unsightly to hook up my other (mostly black) earphones to the remote.
7, Remote does not display song titles.
8. Only ITunes can be used with the iPod. Apple does a good job of disabling other software with every update AND no drag and drop into Windows Explorer. iPod wont detect those files.
9. Battery does seem to drain fast unless you turn decide not to turn on the equalizers, shuffle feature and dont ever forward any track that's currently playing.
10. The remote cable is TOO long. I have to wind it round my iPod when i throw it into my bag.
11. Made in China! (doubts abt quality control... I always had the conception that products in China are mass produced and dont go through quality checks)
12. It's freaking expensive still!
13. Back to earphones, these are the type that cant be slung behind your neck... so when someone stops you for a chat, you have to hold the ear-buds with your hands. Geesh.. I LOVE complaining...
14. The Dock which comes only with the 40GB model makes no sense to me. A box which is used to charge the iPod but the cable connected to the box can be connected directly to the iPod for charging. THAT box only helps to make the iPod stand upright! DUH~! What diff does it make... sigh..
15. Gotta make sure all the files are tagged properly. This doesnt mean just renaming the files but editin the tags individually. Time consuming task! Else you get 2 instances of the same band and the songs wont be in the correct album, not in squence as in the album etc..
Phew... this is the kinda review you guys appreciate I hope. Something you should consider and what most people dont tell you. haha... the good thing is the sound rocks n I have an iPod and you don't!! Wait for Xmas and you might just get the out-of-stock 20GB model your parents bought for you last month...
62 The best
Who needs a stereo with this baby? I bought some computer speakers (19.99$) and I have all the stereo I need. Let's see, on my ipod I have thousands of old radio shows, hundreds of hours of music, sermons, talk shows... the list goes on. I couldn't live without mine.
63 To put it more succinctly...
...an excellent option in this field. Yes, you must use iTunes, but no, that isn't a problem. Yes it's big, and yes, if you don't have a collection of, say, at least 300 CDs or so, then you should probably opt for a cheaper model with less memory (unless you have to have very high quality in your files). Yes, occasionally locks up, but restarting is an easy process that just takes a few seconds. Great interface, great sound, great capacity, quick to transfer music, looks good (I disagree that the chrome backing is bad design), and even this larger model fits easily in many pockets or other such places.
One note re the battery: it is NOT the case that you should never let the battery go dead. That was good advice back in the days of NiCad batteries (which still appear in cheaper, smaller items) due to the so-called "memory" effect involved with those batteries. However, as Apple advises in the iPod section of their site (and indeed as other makers, such as Nokia, advise you to do with their products, as well), you SHOULD let the NiMH battery run out completely and then recharge it completely perhaps once a month. This scrambles up the electrons are whatever in the battery and extends its life as opposed to shortening it.
In short, you cannot go wrong with this unless you just plain don't need it.
64 Buy Sony and RCA's digital music players instead
This is a good music player and looks pretty nice.It is overadvertised and everyone has one so its not even unique. There are many better players at comparable prices with 20GB or greater harddrive.There are many accesseries you have to buy for it which you'd get free with other mp3 players(SONY Walkman digital music player and my favorite the RCA jukebox and video player)
It holds less songs than Sony's(Sony-13,000,Apple-10,000)
You can't watch movies in color on a 3.5inch flatscreen(you can on RCA's)
Accesaries not included
Case-$20-$45(included with Sony's and RCA's)
USB cable-$30(included with Sony's and RCA's)
No free songs(30 free with Sony's Walkman digital music player)
Dock $40(included with Sony's and RCA's)
65 It Does Its Job But I am Keeping the Sony
Well, I am a gadget lover like anyone posting a review. I own a Rio Karma and it was really nice. I loved the price and features and a very easy to use navigation system. The biggest draw back was that it was a little thick. And it died on me but I got it replaced fairly easily.
I then desired a new player. I don't follow everyone. BUT, I was very interested in the Ipod world. I say world because the market is rich with i'isms. I decided to buy an Ipod and the Sony NW-HD1 and take back the one I liked the least.
Ipod is easy and it's interface is painless. Of course. The Rio had a DJ function which spoiled me and the Ipod couldn't match its depth in that regard. However, I wanted to like the Ipod but the size and the thickness were drawbacks. Although it is sleek-ER than most the SONY has it together. The SONY NW-HD1 is not for middle of the road person. It works best with someone who has no experience or alot of it. The atracplus is superior in compression and excels in sound quality especially bass. The walkman also has native line out so integration with your car stereo and home unit is pure without a base. Battery life is superior by far I never look at the Battery Indicator. It is so small the Ipod just didn't fit.
66 Cute and functional
My fiance bought a 40GB iPOD as a surprise for me. I've loved it with really only 2 complaints. 1st being the ear buds it comes with - they are really uncomfortable if you have small ears. The biggest complaint I have though is battery life. It started out great and now I can charge it completely then only get about 2 hrs of playtime with it. I used to listen to it at work and it'd last most of my 8 hr shift. Now it's just a pain because I have to drag my charger with me. That's really my only complaint though. It's cute and a definite must for any music fans that like to listen while on the go or even just sitting at your desk working.
67 This is a great little unit!!!!
I am really amazed on this item. Just received mine & am starting to tranfer all my songs. I got mine free thru http://www.pvps4free.com/default.aspx?r=95379...I was first a little skeptical but followed thru with it. I will be able to put all my songs on this & still have room for tons more. It is very easy to operate & the menu is easy on the eyes....& programmable. I think if your into portable music & pictures...this unit is for you.
68 very poor sound quality
I've owned a 20gb 2G iPod for a while and absolutely love it. However, I recently upgraded to the 4G 40gb and was sorely disappointed. After putting the same music on the 4G unit (and using the same pair of headphones) I was struck by how poor the sound quality was compared to my old iPod (or other MP3 players). I would disagree with other reviewers who say the poor sound quality is only noticeable to audiophiles--it is glaringly obvious: the sound is shrill, hollow, with little bass and obvious distortion on higher volumes. It is so bad that I am returning my 4G unit and sticking with my 2G version.
69 Ipods
The Ipod's are awsome. I don't have one but I have seen one and I want it alot.
70 The Best So Far
I am glad I waited for the 4th generation iPod. The click wheel is essential and a much-needed update to the original iPod with the buttons along the top. I also purchased the Griffen iTrip which allows me to use my iPod in my car.
While Apple boasts a new 12 hour battery life...this is simply overstated. The 12 hour battery billing requires that you listen to your iPod without changing tracks or doing anything else that would keep it from switching from the current track to the next. Read the fine print here. Additionally, if you don't use your iPod for several days, you'll find the battery nearly depleted and it takes a long time to start up.
Overall, I can't complain about it's capacity, capabilities and overall fabulousness. LOVE it and am so glad I waited for the 4th generation. Who needs PHOTOS on an iPod??? That's what my PowerBook is for.
71 love to hate in one drop.
Purchased my Ipod 3 days ago and absolutely loved it. Decided it was the coolest thing I had ever owned. And then I dropped it. I had it in my back pocket and went to sit down. Fell out of my back pocket onto a tile floor and shattered the display. Keep in mind it fell less than 2 feet. For a portable device that is meant to take everywhere, you have to anticipate an accident like this. Extremely disappointed in the durability of this product. Thought about packaging it up and returning it saying it arrived like this, but the chrome back is so scratched after 3 days of use, they would never buy it. Not sure what I am going to do, but feel sick about losing 400 bucks in a 2 foot fall. The unit still works, but I can't read the display well enough to move through the functions.
72 I LIKE my Ipod!
OK, I'm a student commuter to Manhattan, and I've become a victim of the Ipod...(I've always carried around a bulky CD player, and basically if you live in Manhattan, you know ONE out of every 10 people walking on the street has an Ipod. I finally broke down and bought one!)
First of all, I think it's incredible that I can carry my 400+ CDs in my pocket. The sound is great, and it's somewhat easy to navigate the menus.
However, yes, the $$$$ pricetag is questionable. As I'm writing this, the new color sreen Photo Ipods have been just released as well as that special ed. black/red U2 Ipod (in case you're interested).
The "12-hour battery" seems more like 6 hours to me...and yes, this is w/the backlight turned off, and Sound Equilizer off. I seriously would've liked it if Ipod would allow replaceable batteries for a reasonable price (According to their website, $99 to replace!).
But overall, I'm satisfied at the moment, but the competition is still rising...and of course Apple is still making electronics "look sexy" and generation after generation keeps the buyers coming.
73 For big music fans, the best mp3 payer around.
After thinking a lot and reading info and specs of other mp3 before buying mine, I found that iPod is simply the best. You have 40Gb in a small and elegant device. And you can store LOTS of music or files as a hard disk. Are you travelling? you can take your whole music collection in your iPod and even, some files and docs or pics.
Other mp3 players have less capacity and the price is not worthy (are you willing to pay +200 dollars for 1/10 of capacity when for 400 you can have 10 times more capacity??). If you are not a big music fan or are not interested in having hundreds of cds in your pocket just go and buy something else. But if you are looking Forward a big capacity device, this is your best choice.
The sound is also great, the battery life is good and have a pretty good equalizer system. The shuffle is just great. It is easy to use and manipulate. Easy to clean. And besides the main function of playing and organizing music, it also has some extra stuff like games, clock, contacts, notes, calendar, etc... And the opcional accessories allows you to get the best of your iPod.
I have never experienced any problem. So what are you waiting for??? save money and get yours!!!!
74 its great
I love it. at first i wrote a review as to why people are spening so much on this thing, then my friend got it. after playing with it for 10 min i was dying to get one and got one the nezt day. i love it <33333
75 Greater invention than the motor car
This is a first for me. I'm old enough to be the grandfather to most who might purchase this glorious toy but my son said I had to get one as a music lover as it was the greatest invention since the motot car and less polluting. I want to recommend it to those of you in the lets say more mature category of client for the following reasons:
a. It looks elegant and feels authoritative.
b. It works.
c. It is easy to load, use, and recharge.
d. With an elegant black crumpler, sits snugly on your waste belt.
e. Has ample room for 100s of albums I have loaded 78 in one day and will continue today.
f. As my hearing is less than it used to be, the headphones suit me fine as I can listen to what I want without disturbing other family members.
g. For a music lover it is a delight to be able to rediscover one's music especially those danged box sets which tend to SIT on shelves.
h. It is elegant and authoritative and FEELS just right (Have I said that already?)
i. I still love my wife and children and my grandchildren but my Ipod is now nearly as loved as my Birdy bicycle - ain't life grand!
76 Went from my most hated to my favorite MP3 player
My whole ordeal with the iPod started two years ago, just after the release of the 2nd generation iPod, back then it was new for Mac and/or Windows. I was anticipating the best MP3 player ever, because Apple lovers loved their iPods.
When I received the unit, I plugged it into the firewire port on my Windows XP Home notebook. At the time the iPod was still being updated through the MusicMatch plugin. About two weeks into my first Apple experience (except for that obligatory high school lab experience that all kids go through), the plug in stopped working and somehow my drive was completely erased and MusicMatch wouldn't load any new music! About a week after that, my PC wouldn't even recognize the device.
I promptly sent the iPod back for a full refund and wrote a scathing entry on my blog.
The next time around (3rd generation), Apple had just released iTunes for Windows and I became a very content user. I decided to give the 3G iPod a try and slowly changed my tone. I had recently ripped my entire CD collection to an external hard drive and even 40GB wasn't enough to hold it all. But the good news was that I used it at least every other day for a year and had virtually no issues with it (except for the occasional time where the PC wouldn't recognize and I had to restart). There was one time in particular where iTunes released a new version of itself and the iPod controller software and would not boot up until I disconnected the iPod from the PC. (This took me the better part of four hours to figure out because it had run so seamlessly in the past.)
Then three weeks ago, my best friend bought me a 4G iPod (above). I am totally and 100% in love with the Apple line of products and cannot stop talking about how much I love my new iPod. There is no problem sync-ing with my PC. I've never had an issue of the PC not seeing the hardware. I love the new wheel with the buttons built in (I have to confess that I didn't want to click, I just wanted to touch like in 3G, but I quickly adapted to the new format). I love the "Shuffle Playlist" option and use it often. I just cannot say enough wonderful things about this product, and that means a lot, coming from the person who disowned them just two years ago.
77 Some practical advice
The iPod is awesome. That's a fact. So let me dwell on some practical advice here:
1. This is the 40gb iPod to buy. Do NOT buy the older version (manufacturer cat no. M9245LL/A), it looks the same, costs the same, but has only 8 hours play time instead of 12. Even if you have to wait a little, get THIS one. BE SURE TO LOOK AT THE CAT NO.
2. Most likely you'll need a carrying case. Budget that in. The Apple one is nice but is around $50.
3. If you import a lot of CDs, your desktop or laptop might not have enough space on the hard drive. We're talking 40gb here! A good solution is to buy an additional hard drive. This can also serve as a backup (it's very depressing to import CD after CD and then have your hard drive crash...).
4. A very cost effective way to get an extra hard drive is to shop at your local computer store (e.g. CompUSA), look for the ATA drive that's on sale this week, and then, if you have a laptop, also get the "enclosure" that makes it into an external USB 2.0 drive. (...)! Also great for backup of your music + pictures + hard drive etc.
78 Make a smart decision
iPods have always been a symbol of power and beauty, and have always been admired by all. You can walk by anyone with white headphones, and they can't help but ask if you have an ipod. The ipod is more than just a mp3 player, given that it can hold your contacts and calender, etc. Not much is to say other than it holds a lot of music, probably more than most people have in their entire collection. It has a standard compared to all other players out their, no other player can get the respect and great feeling that owning an ipod has. Whether or not you choose to get the almost perfect ipod is your choice. I already made it, and would never regret it.
79 iPod's great, too bad Amazon service isn't
I FINALLY received my iPod and love it. I previously owned a 2nd generation 20GB model that was fantastic. The new 40GB provides double the capacity, has a smaller size and incorporates the new click wheel. Please refer to Bowen Simmons review for more specifics regarding features.
(...)
80 Some useful things to know
Given that the amount of press that this device has received, what is there to say about it that hasn't been said a thousand times already? Well, here are some things that are worth knowing but that you might not already know:
(1) When you untangle the headphones (and you will spend a lot of time untangling the headphones), untangle from the jack end first (pull that end through the knots). The buds act like little hooks on the cable and don't pull through well. What's more, there are two of them and it is easy to confuse the cables of one with the other. It will save you time and aggravation to untangle the jack first. Try it and see for yourself.
(2) To put the little foam cushions on the earbuds, put the cushion against the bud with the hole facing you and roll it back onto the bud on so that it turns inside out as you put it on. You will want to use the cushions - the earbuds aren't very comfortable even with the cushions and can be downright painful without them.
(3) Memorize how to reset the iPod (plug it into power, push the hold button on and off, then hold down the "menu" and "play/pause" buttons at the same time for 6 to 10 seconds - repeat as needed). iPods are real nice, but every model still locks up every once in a while (less than once a month in my experience). When I first had an iPod, I took it on a trip, and it locked up so I couldn't use it and I didn't know how to reset it. Very frustrating - don't let it happen to you.
(4) Since you're looking at a 40 gig iPod, I assume you have LOTS of music (if you don't - save your money; you don't need this). Anyway, a great playlist for people with big collections is a "smart" playlist (a smart playlist is one constructed from rules rather than by hand) that consists of the songs you haven't played yet (or haven't played in a while) and which you then shuffle as needed. Once you play a song, it automatically drops off the list (neat, huh?) leaving you with just the music you haven't heard yet (or lately).
(5) If you have a big collection, you may have more than will fit on a 40 gig iPod. If so, you should know that you can choose to have your iPod sync only particular playlists (like, say, your automatic list of unplayed songs mentioned above), and the size of an automatic playlist can itself be capped to a particular size limit. This method gives you a way to sync your iPod with only very slightly more effort than a fully automatic sync (which doesn't work if you have more music than will fit on the iPod) because once you set a playlist to be included, it stays that way until you change it.
(6) If you're looking to save some dough, the ability to sync only some playlists makes the smaller iPods perfectly usable even if you have a large music collection . It's just a trade-off of management effort vs. space. Even the smallest iPods can hold enough music for any but the longest trips away from your computer.
(7) For your CD's, you can change the bit rate at which they're compressed. The higher the bit rate, the better the sound, but the bigger the file (and the shorter the battery life - those big files take more juice to load off the hard disk). If you're getting an iPod this big, live a little - change from the default bit rate to something higher when loading your CD's.
(8) Use the dock with your stereo. It has a line-out on the back and you can plug it right into your stereo (extra stereo cable required) and use the stereo remote to control the volume. You can also get a third-party IR remote from Ten Technology right here on Amazon to control pause, play, forward and back - and even program your universal remote. If you'd rather use the dock with your computer, think about getting Apple's stereo connection kit, which you can also get right here on Amazon: you get another dock, another power supply and cable, and a stereo cable.
(9) Get a car adapter and use it with your car. There are dedicated ones that can also recharge it, but any generic cassette adapter will do - assuming of course your car has a cassette player. For those living high, Alpine is coming out with a really neat looking adapter in September that lets you control the iPod through your car stereo; for those living higher yet, get a BMW and get the special adaptor BMW makes available for controlling your iPod through your CD changer buttons.
(10) To extend battery life, don't let it go completely dead. Your battery can last for years and years if you keep it topped off as much as possible.
(11) Check your free hard disk space. If you want 40 gig of music on your iPod, you'll need 40 gig of free hard disk space on your computer. Also, think about whether you want another hard disk to back it up - forget about CD-R's or even DVD-R's for this much data.
(12) Check the websites of your favorite artists - lots of them have free tracks you can download perfectly legally and then load onto your iPod.
81 Talk about Sexy and Sleek! you betta RECOGNIZE
Alright, basically, if you want a bangin', cool-looking, hip music PLAYER, this is it! To buy an item like this in the first place, you must like electronics. If you like electronics you would want the coolest looking one out there, so here is where the iPod will beat any other device out there.
I own the 40gB (4th generation) one, and absolutely love it. I have owned the 1st generation 20gb too, and have no complaints. Because they all are inclusive of a 1yr warranty, [god forbid] anything were you happen, you are covered. Other players usually have much less warranty.
The new click wheel is NOT confusing at all... you wouldn't want to worry about that at all. Within about 20minutes of taking it out of its box, I was a pro and had the software installed and I was transferring all my files from iTunes right into the iPod.
Overall, if you are into cool electronics, this is a MUST-HAVE. So go out and get yours today!
Happy iPod-ing
82 The 4th generation iPod vs. the competition
Since getting my new 4th generation iPod, I've spent a LOT of time with it. I also have MP3 players by Creative and iRiver, and I will compare the iPod to them.
DESIGN AND EASE OF USE:
The iPod has always been the most elegantly designed player on the market, which is why people pay the iPod premium. This is my first iPod, and using it is really a joy, moreso than the other players I've used (not that they are bad).
Using the iPod is easy and intuitive. Within an hour of opening the box, you will have installed the software on your computer, transferred a dozen CDs to the iPod, and be comfortable using most of the features and commands on the iPod. To learn more advanced features, like how to create a playlist on your iPod on the fly, you'll need to read the manual. But, the manual is very well-written, and makes it easy to find just the thing you need. (The manual is supplied only as a PDF file on the CD-ROM, though you get a printed GETTING STARTED guide in the box.)
To transfer music to your iPod, you must use the iTunes software, which doubles as a store that sells downloadable music and audio books. I like the iTunes store, and find the prices reasonable, but please be assured that you needn't ever visit the music store if you don't wish. The software is a very nicely designed manager of your iPod's library.
SOUND QUALITY:
I compared the iPod with my other music players by plugging them into a high-end stereo, which is better to distinguish subtle differences between players than just comparing through headphones.
The iPod sounds very good. Not quite as good as the Creative player, but as good or a little better than the iRiver (which CNET rated highly for sound quality). The difference in sound quality between the iPod and the Creative players is probably too small to affect your purchase decision unless you are a very picky audiophile.
PERFORMANCE:
The iPod puts out enough volume to power any headphones.
File transfers are very, very fast, whether using USB2 or FireWire (and the iPod comes with both cables, a nice bonus). It takes a second or less for each song to be transferred to the player.
I haven't tested battery life, but CNET's independent review reports battery life at 13 hours. (Apple advertises 12 hours - how refreshing to see the actual time be LONGER than advertised!!)
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 20GB AND 40GB iPODS:
The 40gb version comes with a dock, is a couple millimeters thicker and a half ounce heavier than the 20gb version. This extra size & weight is too small to be noticable, unless you have a scale or are extremely sensitive.
OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
If you are concerned that the 20gb version doesn't include the dock, don't worry - you can live just fine without it. Connecting the iPod to your computer using either cable works great, and the iPod's battery will charge while the player is connected to your computer (or plugged into a wall outlet using the included adapter).
However, the dock makes it a little more convenient to connect the iPod to your home stereo (and charge the iPod at the same time).
(Note: to connect the iPod to a stereo, with or without the dock, you will need to buy a separate cable with a standard mini-jack on one end and two standard RCA plugs on the other, about $10 at any Circuit City or Best Buy)
NEGATIVES:
The iPod is more expensive per gigabyte than other players, and the battery is not user-replacable. (The competitors - Zen Touch, Karma, and iRiver IHP 120/140 - do not have user-replacable batteries, either.) For a price, Apple or 3rd party vendors can replace the battery for you if it ever dies.
The player doesn't accept WMA format. If you already have a lot of music in unprotected WMA format, the iTunes software will convert these files to Apple's proprietary AAC format so that they'll work with the iPod. However, there may be some loss in quality, which is inevitable whenever you convert a compressed file from one format to another.
The real problem is when you have a bunch of PROTECTED WMA files, such as those you buy from MusicMatch. To get such files on your iPod, you must first burn them onto a CD, then re-insert the CD into your computer (as if it were a regular music CD) and use iTunes to rip the songs to an iPod-friendly format like MP3 or AAC. This procedure is time-consuming, and may result in a small loss in sound quality.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
I recommend the new 4th generation iPod very highly.
Still, I encourage you to check out the iRiver iHP 120/140, the Rio Karma, and the new Creative Zen Touch. If you buy the Creative, be careful - it only comes with a 90-day warranty (compared to the iPod's one year). My Creative player died shortly after the warranty expired, and Creative charged me over $100 to fix it!
If you want the iPod but hesitate because it's more expensive than the competition, keep in mind that you're probably going to use this player for a good long while. An extra 50 bucks spread out over three years or so is well worth it to get such a great player.
83 The best portable music player out there
Early in the twenty-first century, MP3 players became a very popular way for people to listen to music, and with good reason - rather than hauling around a whole mess of CDs, people were able to fit practically their entire music collection in the palm of their hand! By far the most popular MP3 player on the market is the iPod line, from Apple Computers. How does the 40 GB model, redesigned for 2004, measure up? Read on for my review.
PROS:
-THE DEVICE CAN FIT UP TO (APPROXIMATELY) TEN THOUSAND SONGS! If you're like me and you have tons of CDs (and I mean numbers of CDs in the hundreds), THIS DEVICE IS FOR YOU! More likely than not, you'll be able to fit your entire discography onto the device!
-EASY TO USE ONCE YOU GET THE HANG OF IT. The click wheel and buttons may be a little tricky to use at first, but once you get the hang of them, you're going to wonder how you ever lived without them! It's MUCH easuer using this interface than the one on earlier iPods.
-THIS NEW MODEL HAS BEEN SLIMMED DOWN CONSIDERABLY. The new version of the 40 GB iPod is slimmer than its older 40 GB counterpart, making it much easier to carry around.
-THE NEW VERSION COSTS CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN ITS OLDER COUNTERPART! Earlier 40 GB iPods were very pricey. This new version is no exception, but it's gonna cost you about a hundred bucks less than the old one!
-THIS VERSION INCLUDES THE BASE! The base (normally sold seperately for a pretty large amount of money) is included with this version of the iPod, making it easier to charge your device and to listen to songs while you're at home!
-A DISC WITH THE SOFTWARE YOU NEED IS INCLUDED. The iPod works with Apple's iTunes program, and you'll get a CD that has the program on it with your iPod.
-SOFTWARE IS EASY TO USE. All you do to get music from your CDs into your iTunes library is stick the CD in your computer and press import! It's as simple as that!
-HEADPHONES INCLUDED. And the headphones included are actually very good ones! They are the earbud style, and they get the job done very well.
-THIS IS THE BEST DIGITAL MUSIC DEVICE ON THE MARKET, PERIOD! Not many other digital music players let you put ten thousand songs on them!
-BONUS FEATURES. The device includes some games, including Solitare and a ball-busting game similar to the arcade classic, Breakout. But the best of these bonus games is, by far, the music quiz. The player will play a song from your library at random, and you must guess (from a list of five songs) which one is playing! The faster you answer, the more points you get! This gets especially interesting when your digital music library gets to be as big as mine is.
-A BETTER VALUE THAN MOST DEVICES OF THE SAME TYPE. It really doesn't cost a whole lot more than the iPods that hold considerably less music, and it includes the base, making it the best value of all the iPods!
-IT'S GOT A BACKLIGHT! This way, you can easily navigate your music library in the dark!
CONS:
-STILL PRETTY EXPENSIVE. Let's face the facts, not everyone needs a 40 GB digital music player. But still, it's a much better value than any other iPod.
-GETTING MUSIC ONTO THE DEVICE IS CONFUSING AT FIRST. You MUST use iTunes for this - you can't simply click and drag. But once you get the hang of it, you'll agree that iTunes is a good program.
-RETITLING SONGS/ARTISTS/ALBUMS GETS ANNOYING. This is a VERY time-consuming process, but if you DON'T do it, you're going to end up with a jumbled mess of songs in your library. On the other hand, if you DO retitle them all, you're going to lose MANY hours of your social life.
-THE CHROME-STYLED BACK OF THE DEVICE IS POORLY DESIGNED. Because of the chrome stylings of this part of the player, it can easily get fingerprints on it, and get scratched. Why couldn't they just make the whole thing out of the same material?
-MANUAL IS NOT VERY HELPFUL. The manual is very small and doesn't have too many pages, and it doesn't really say a whole lot that will help you - you're better off just using the info that's on the iTunes installation CD.
OVERALL:
Let me put it simply - THIS is the digital music player that everybody should own. Maybe you don't need a 40 GB yet, but chances are your music library will grow enough that you'll need one eventually, making this model the better choice in the long run. If you're going to shell out the cash for an iPod, you might as well get the best one of all. Final verdict? HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO ANYONE WHO OWNS A COMPUTER AND A LARGE CD COLLECTION.
84 This item re-awakened my love of music
It's an incredible product. All of my music collection fits on it. No more spending $15 for an album where I like only one song - I can just buy the song I want instead. It's easy to use, fast to sync (it takes much longer to rip the CD than it does for it to be copied to the player), and when I shuffle the songs, it's like listening to the radio where I like EVERY song.
