Apple 4th Generation iPod Featuring the fabulous Apple Click Wheel first introduced on iPod mini, iPod offers up to 12 hours of battery life. Weighs in at just 5.6 ounces. Slips into your pocket with ease. And lets you carry your entire music library with you wherever you go. iPod continues its stand as the archetypal digital music player for Mac and Windows. A musical dream come true, the fourth-generation iPod offers voluminous capacity, letting you easily slip up to 10,000(1) songs in your pocket. And enjoy them wherever you go. In the car. On the treadmill. At the office. Around the house.
1 great item
both me and one of my family members hav ipods i have the 40 my son has the 20, both by hp, great support by hp, and a gra=eat by overall. I got a hp ipod for my birthday and got my son an hp 20 because of the support. both my son and I think if you have a big(over 5,000 songs)music library get a 40 if you have a smaller library get a 20 if you just want an ipod for the gym or if your a young child get a shuffle. but no matter what minis cost to much and arent worth it.
2 installwizard shield
i know i will love this but as my new ipod + hp was charging, i rounded up all my cd's sorted them, read the manual front to back and sat down to download the software and get started. i cannot get the darn software installed. i keep getting thed 1607 error report and even after following every idea given, i am still without music.
it shouldn't be this hard
3 Another PC addict CONVERTED by the iPod
I researched mp3 players for months and months, spent hours in electronics stores, read all the Amazon reviews, and never once considered an iPod. Just some sort of Apple prejudice from my formative years, I guess.
Then I ran into a review for one of the myriad OTHER non-Apple mp3 players on Amazon that basically said, "Get an iPod. You'll be happy you did. Apple just does things right." I looked into the iPod, and after my initial sticker shock I realized the reviewer had been right. Instead of completely revamping designs every year or two, or coming out with esoteric new models with new gimmicks attached to them, Apple has spent the past 5 or so years PERFECTING the iPod. It is truly a beautiful machine, from the pristine exterior to the elegant controls and interface. Case in point--if you pull out the headphones while a song is playing, the player automatically PAUSES the song, and lets you restart it when the phones are back in. This is but one example of the many thoughtful features of the iPod that other manufacturers couldn't even get their kludgy machines to do.
There was a learning curve for me, what with converting everything into iTunes and all, but the trouble it took was FAR outweighed by the pleasure of owning such a stunning piece of electronics. I am sure the iPod will only get better as Apple keeps making new models.
That said, I have some advice for anyone thinking of buying one:
A) Research and choose a case for your iPod BEFORE you bring it home. They're beatiful, but extremely prone to scratches. And you'll want to use it immediately. The case I bought (after a month of searching) was the iSkin eVo2, which came with a screen guard and a click wheel guard. There are products out there that will buff out scraches and dull areas out of your iPod, but getting them on there in the first place just feels bad.
B) It's also a good idea to research how to best extend the life of your iPod's battery. There are proven techniques that can help avert premature battery drain, which is apparently a complaint of some iPod users, due to the non-user-replaceable battery.
My only two (extremely minor) complaints are: ONE, with the player in your pocket, you have to put your hand all the way AROUND the player to access the controls. That's in contrast to having some or all controls available on the top of the unit. But, they make a plug-in device that puts supplementary controls on the top of the iPod now, so there you go.
TWO, unlike other media players, iTunes does not display song titles on the task bar. It's a minor pain to have to click over from what you're doing just to figure out who's singing. On the other hand, with the player minimized and set to "On Top Always", you don't have to deal with that, either.
Buy an iPod. I'm serious. I don't give perfect ratings on anything, but truly the iPod is one of few things in this world close to perfection.
Enjoy!
4 Don't overbuy.
I bought the 40GB iPod from HP with the intention of putting my entire music collection on it. I was successful. It turned out I only had about 2700 tracks of music (which I thought was a lot at the time), and am only using a little less than a quarter of the the capacity of the 40GB. I really could have saved some money by getting the 20GB model instead. Lesson learned: Take the time to count how many tracks you'll be storing and then select the correct capacity leaving some room for future expansion.
As far as the operation and sound quality go, I am 100% satisfied.
Be prepared to purchase some 'armor' for your iPod. I bought both the silicon and the leather versions of cases. The silicon armor is tough to get on and off of the iPod, but offers pretty good shock and dust protection. The leather armor is easier to take off but it more readily allows dust to get trapped against the iPod screen. I found that you have to remove the armor if you want to use a docking station.
One last note... you will probably want to get speakers to share your iPod music collection with others. Many brands are available, but I'll leave that up to your research.
5 Active users should avoid this
Despite the advertising, this ipod (and the 10 gb model, judging by posts elsewhere), is not suitable for active people. The music is stored on a hard drive, which functions only when it is still. To get around this, the unit has a "skip protection" memory buffer advertised to last 25 minutes. The buffer works for only 17 minutes, then the unit locks up and must be rebooted. Mine wouldn't reboot for a long time-- until long after I had finished my workout! Unless you need huge storage capacity, stick with a flash memory mp3 player or casette tapes.
6 Flawless, Seamless Setup
I was shocked on Christmas morning to find this under the tree from my wife. I didn't ask for it or expect it, but 5 days later, I can't see how it wasn't on my list! Responding to a couple of the previous reviews; first, the HP-iPod does charge itself when connected to a pc via the Firewire cable and, second, after putting in over 5,000 songs from my CD collection the past few days, I had absolutely no problems with either the iTunes software or iPod. As a matter of fact, I've had no problems whatsoever with anything. This is a gadget that begs for accessories. The first "must" is a case, then an FM transmitter, and so on.... I highly recommend this iPod, I don't see how it could be any different from the Apple version.
7 Life long creative loyalist crosses over
The first MP3 Jukebox I ever bought was the Nomad Jukebox back when 6gig was a big deal. I used a compact flash RCA Lyra (the original) as my first portable MP3 player. Since then I've been through a few small yield MP3 players with solid state media and a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen NX 20gig.
I never concidered getting an IPod due to the battery issue I wish they would solve, and a loathing of Apple products simply because I don't go for this whole computer chic thing.
I purchaced my IPod at a military BX. It was there and cheap, and I must admit I have been rather curious about the product. First I will say the fact it was an Apple IPod manufactured by HP made this a bit easier on me. I think the HP work helped it when I connected it to my computer. So I was rather shocked that it worked so well after the requisite 4 hour initial charge.
Once it was loaded I was ready to load it up with my music. The problem was I use RealPlayer for all my music. I had heard Real had been able to crack Apple's little proprietary world and so I decided to do it that way. I found that as long as I never update the IPod firmware ahead of Real's upgrade to their IPod driver I was safe.
Picking this up against my Zen I noticed the obvious differences between the two. The Creative is about the size of an 80's portable tape player. The Ipod fit well into my hands, and the headphones were more comfortable then anything I've really ever used. Even Ear buds from Sony make my ears hurt after an hour or so. The IPod earbuds haven't caused any fatigue in my ears, and that in and of itself is impressive.
I'm probably going to play around with redoing my music into Apple's iTunes software. I don't buy music and I don't expect ever to buy any music that isn't on a CD. This isn't about the restrictions Apple and others put on it (Though that is a real factor) but more about having a real backup to my music collection. It may cost more, but at least I am confient all I have to do is just sitdown and be patient as I rebuild my music collection from the original CD's.
All in all I am very happy with this product. I plan to enjoy it for a long time and hope to see more. I more then likely will never buy a Mac computer as I prefer to build my computers. But I don't see any problems with the PC version of this IPod here. Honestly I think this is a good product and plan to keep up with it as needed in the future.
As with all products there is a downside. The lack of replaceable battery is a major concern of mine, and hope Apple will fix this problem in the future. Also, I'd like to see it more open with some other music programs so transfering over playlists from other music programs.
All in all I give it a 4 out of 5. On the plus side we have the size and shape. The controls are easy to handle, organization and usage of music on the device is very easy. Also I do enjoy the headphones and the sound. On the down side definatly the battery issue, and the lock in with iTunes is a big annoyance at times.
8 DO NOT GO WITH HP Version
I bought the HP version of the 40 Ipod and struggled for hours, to no avail, just to get the software set up. I returned it to the store and found that I was one of about 15 this week to return the HP version to that same store. I exchanged for the Apple PC version and was up and running within 30 minutes.
I have a HP Media Center, which for some reason conflicted with the software.
I will never purchase HP again.
9 One star for the Ear buds.
Love this product. Sounds great, works great. No problems at all with the setup and operation, and I'm not the most computer literate person in my family. Having my entire CD collection at my fingertips is a wonderful thing. My only beef is that the headphones, (which I had planned to upgrade anyway), worked for only a few minutes before the right bud began sputtering. Didn't complain because I was happy it wasn't the Ipod itself. For that much money you'd think the earphones would have lasted longer AND been able to wear with some comfort. Also, I believe the Itunes site could use a little work to become more user friendly but in the end, a great product.
10 Product may be great -- STAY AWAY OF HP SERVICE!!
Hi,
I got my IPOD @ COMPUSA before I headed off for Europe for 6 months -- BIG MISTAKE! I tried to get connect my unit to my Win XP laptop and ended up getting an error message on the screen. I called HP Tech Support who not only had no clue what the error message meant (the unit displayed a folder with an exclamation mark on it), but they also had no process in place to help if I was calling from outside the US. I will end up having to send the unit back to the US and pay for it (!!!) and they'll then send it back to my parents only so that I'll have to pay to get it shipped back again! SO STAY AWAY OF HP SERVICE, wherever you are....
11 Best MP3 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.
12 My Experience with the iPod +hp
I purchased the 40gb iPod about a week ago. My previous MP3 player was a Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox 20gb version. I finally decided to upgrade because the Nomad has a horrible battery life. It would rarely hold a charge over 2 hours, so I decided it was time to upgrade to a new MP3 player.
I've been following the iPod for quite awhile and was very impressed with all of it's positive reviews. Especially the sound quality and it's battery life. When the new HP+ version of the iPod was released I decided it was time to buy. Apon checking my local retailer and online, there really wasn't much of a price difference so I decided to buy locally and save the time it takes for shipping.
There are two versions of the HP+ iPod. There is a 20-gigabyte version and a 40-gigabyte version with about a $100 price difference. I had originally planned on buying the 20gb model because I only have about 10 gigs of music and just don't need all that extra space. Apon closer examination I found the 40gb model also included a dock for easy syncing with my PC. Separately the dock costs $39.95 and I was going to buy one anyways. So for only $60 more I could have 20 more gigs of space. That's great to have if I ever needed to back up any large files from my desktop.
The iPod was very well packaged. There wasn't a lot of garbage plastic and annoying ads telling me to buy accessories. The documentation included with the unit was concise and easy to follow. I had the unit up and charging in minutes although Windows XP did require a reboot to finalize the driver installation when I first plugged it in.
The sound is incredible! My old Nomad Jukebox was junk compared to this player. I'm not sure what Apple has done to make sound quality this good, but it has to be heard to be believed. The iPod's control wheel does take a little bit of getting used to but I quickly learned it can be completely controlled with just one hand. I'm left handed and haven't had any problems with it. It's also touch sensitive. Just lightly rubbing the wheel clockwise or counter-clockwise will adjust the volume or scroll through the iPod's menus. The iPod's casing feels very rugged and strong. I wouldn't recommend dropping it, but I think if I did it would survive.
Apple has designed this unit with simplicity in mind. There are only two ports on the unit. One is for the headphones and the other one can be used by the firewire or USB 2.0 cable. It automatically charges it's self through this cable and doesn't have to be plugged in. If you do wish to charge it through a wall socket, an included hybrid power adaptor is included. It's basically a plug-in adaptor with a firewire port.
I was not impressed with the earbud headphones. Not that they have bad sound quality, quite the opposite, they sound excellent but they just won't stay in place for me. Wrap around headphones should have been included. I know earbuds are quite popular right now, but I really have problems with them. I had an ear operation a number of years ago and just don't have the ear support to keep them in place. I've had to use wrap around earphones for years, which is no big deal since I already have a pair that I bought to use with my old MP3 player.
The bundled software is basic. It's just one program, but it's very versatile. It's called iTunes. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but I got the hang of it in about an hour or so. iTunes automatically sorts all of your music into three categories. Genre, Artist and Album. This makes it easy to find music fast. Burning music to the iPod is a breeze. Just drop your CD into the computer and iTunes automatically updates the album name, tracks and artists for you. Just click the copy to iPod button and iTunes takes care of the rest! Play lists are easy to create and upload to the iPod. I have a travel play list for on the road, and a home play list for around the house. iTunes also gives you the option to preview and download music online. There is quite a variety of music to choose from. Whatever your taste in music, there is something for everyone. I've already downloaded three songs and they only cost $.99 a piece. (Sure I could have gotten them for free, but I have a conscience) Entire albums can be downloaded for $9.99. To pay for the music iTunes can either charge a valid credit card or an active America Online account.
Positives:
- iPod has the best sound I've heard
- 40gb version is the best deal and includes a dock.
- The dock is extremely handy and almost required
- Can display .txt, calendar and contact files
- Works as a backup hard drive
- Excellent battery life
- Built in games
Negatives:
- High Price
- Earbud Headphones
- Only Firewire & USB 2.0 Compatible (No USB 1.1)
- Can only be configured with one computer (No Swapping between 2)
Even with a few minor negatives this iPod gets 5 stars. It's the best MP3 player out there!
13 Same as Apple iPod + A Few thoughts
First, this HP iPod is the same as the Apple iPod. There is an Apple store 1 block from my office and I took it in and compared them. The ONLY difference in the unit itself is a smal HP logo on the back.
I bought this simply because it was in stock and the "Apple" version wasn't, no other reason.
I really like my iPod for all the reasons everyone else does..it's elegant, works well, holds a ton of music, etc. That said, here are a few cons I thought I'd mention...
-Using the device as a hard-drive in Windows requires a setting that makes you "eject" each time you disconnect the cable. Seems like an odd extra step.
-USB connection charges the battery, Firewire doesn't.
-There are fewer cases/covers available for this new design without the buttons above the selector wheel. These things scratch so easily you need a case.
-Sometimes the wrong song title appears on the display, even though the file has the correct one in iTunes.
I also have a few issues with iTunes 4.6 for Windows, a key component of the iPod:
-The screen doesn't refresh automatically, showing a different song playing than actually is. Sometimes I get gibberish on the screen.
-The music store is often quite slow to respond to searches or even hangs.
-There's not enough information on the music to make purchase decisions, so I find myself browsing at Amazon and then buying at iTunes.
-Different iTunes songs have different volume levels. I think there's a setting to make them all the same, but I haven't found it.
-It's hard to synch all your music onto multiple computers. I would like to have my music on my iPod, work laptop, and home desktop. Getting them all the same isn't easy.
-You really have to watch pricing on albums. Most albums cost $9.99 and most songs cost 99 cents. If there are less than 10 songs on an album, you still get charged $9.99, even if you could get all the songs individually for less.
-I had one of the original Rio MP3 players and ripped a lot of songs using their software, which combined song-album-artist into one field. iTunes doesn't parse these when importing.
-If I import music from a CD without an Internet connection, iTunes doesn't go to the CDDB later when I do have a connection to get track info.
Despite all the above, I'm really enjoying my iPod, I just wanted to point out a few of the shortcomings in the hopes that Apple would address.
14 Honest and Non biased review of this product,
I have seem so many bad reviews for both the 20GB version of +HP Ipods and the 40 GB version of +hp Ipods. The reviewer seems to not understand the whole concept of the technology share venture between HP and Apple. Apple has good design, HP has its manufacturing and Marketing power. Its a natural combination!
I've been wanting to buy an ipod for quite a while now and IT IS very difficult to find an APPLE brand 20 GB 4th Gen Ipod! Apple simply can't keep up with the demand! The +HP brand Ipod is EXACTLY the same as the Apple Brand Ipod. The only few difference are listed here
- HP Logo at the back of ipod player (Nothing serious here)
- HP support (Not bad either, 24/7 with quick pickup)
- Allows HP Ipod custom printable skins (Nice addition, but the skins would probablly work on regular Apple IPods as well).
- PC Softwares (Does this really matter? +HP ipod would also work on Macs if you download itune for macs)
People kept on complaining about no WMA support. Remember Apple IPOD design is a copyrighted design by apple. If apple don't want to offer WMA support, there is nothing HP can do about it! HP simply helps the manufacturing and distribution!!! Nothing else. BTW, Hp invented is simply a catchy marketing phrase. The main core business of HP is printers and computers, did HP invent either one of these??? Don't concentrate too much on their marketing techniques, what really matters is the product.
Everything else is exactly the same! Even the apple logo still exist on the back of this ipod player.
So the only big difference I can see is apple support or HP support. To me, I don't really care. But if you really want Apple support don't get this. Otherwise don't look any further.
15 Not a good clone
This is totally a rebranded Apple iPod under the uglier skin. People had hoped for HP adding WMA support, but there is none in this. If you want an iPod, get the real thing. If you want a really good MP3 jukebox, check out the Creative Zen Touch. HP has very poor tech support, by the way, so the ten bucks you save over the iPod doesn't make this a better value.
16 Difference in Support between HP and Apple iPods - iTunes
This is a great product but there is a difference in support between HP and Apple iPods. I was having problems with iTunes not correctly importing my song ID tags (see below) so I called HP. HP told me that it does not support iTunes, and then I called Apple and they told me that they do not support iTunes for HP iPods-Only Apple iPods!!! Apple verifies that you have an Apple iPod by the serial number, which they require for tech support. Further, I believe iTunes is the only application that you can use with the new iPods, so you don't have a choice to use a program that works better for you. What are they thinking??? I hope they correct this issue as soon as possible.
I believe iTunes may need some fine tuning because my song tags were fine on my old iPod (2G), MusicMatch, Windows Explorer, XPlay, etc., but when I imported the songs into iTunes, many of my songs (a couple hundred of them) had extra spaces at the end of artist, album, and track names, and some genres changed among other issues. It looks like iTunes reverted the songs to their original tags from long ago. It took a couple of hours to get them back the way I had them.
17 HP has done it again!
What can I say other than "WOW" This is one of the best products that HP introduced. The best MP3 player ever! The other cool thing is that the 24/7 support from hp now all I have to do is call one number and get support for all my HP products. Great job HP!!! Keep inventing!
18 Same exact thing as regular 40GB Apple Ipod
No worries, when you order this item it comes with "ipod for PC" emblazened all over it, but it still works just the same on your mac. If you would like to go thru hp and get their warranty, feel free, i don't know if it's better than apple's and i don't know if there's an hp equivilent to "applecare" but with hp's marketing muscle, there will now no longer be problems getting ipods. I had to wait weeks for amazon to even have this item, but now that it's here, i'm in nirvana. :)
19 It's the same as Apple's iPod
Just a correction to another review - I have the 4G 40 Gig Apple iPod, and it DOES include both USB and Firewire cables. I've seen this one too, and it's another fine product (but then, it's pretty much the same thing as Apple's product, since HP licensed it from Apple.)
20 Good News for Anti-Apple Advocates
This is a great new offering from HP! This iPOD is better in the fact that you get great reliability and support from HP. In addition, HP's iPOD provides a USB 2.0 AND Firewire cable with the product. A $20 option Apple doesn't provide! PC lovers rejoice!
