My New iPod Shuffle Purple (4th Generation): Twice The Capacity, Exponentially More Annoyance!

The Good: Fair capacity, Brand name
The Bad: Lousy interface, Not thrilling capacity, EXPENSIVE, Not wild about the color.
The Basics: A disappointing iPod Shuffle, the 2 GB Purple looks mediocre and annoyingly takes a huge amount of time to find the song one wants to hear.

It seems that when lousy electronic rain down upon the Swarts household, they really come to roost. It also appears that many of my friends and family do not actually read my many reviews. I mention this because when I told many of my family members that I was going to spend some time getting in shape this winter, some of them pooled together and presented me with a purple iPod Shuffle. This came to the house on the heels of my mother getting an orange iPod Shuffle (reviewed here!) which I was so thoroughly unimpressed with that I panned it pretty righteously. My partner, as it turns out, has a very simple MP3 player that I've been happily able to use since I started working out more. It is a very basic MP3 player, not an iPod brand MP3 player, and it works fine when I am jogging along, walking the dog and even doing my situps.

I mention this at the outset of my review of my purple 2 GB iPod Shuffle because the iPod Shuffle is designed for portability and not for style or any sense of convenience. It is designed for active lifestyles, but ones where the playing of music is peripheral to the activity being done, as opposed to using the MP3 player as an entertainment device. As such, this does not have a screen, track indicator or have any sort of applications it can perform. This is a very pure, overpriced MP3 player and it is identical in every way to my mother's orange 1GB iPod Shuffle, save that mine is purple and has twice the capacity.

Actually, I discovered quickly that the only thing more annoying than having an iPod Shuffle, which essentially requires the listener to memorize their entire playlist or randomly work through songs from the first few notes until they get the song they actually wanted to play, is having one with more capacity. The bigger capacity - 2GB - makes the playlist twice as long and exceptionally difficult to find the songs. This was a real annoyance to me as my iPod Shuffle's playlist is significantly different from the material I have on my much easier-to-use iPod Touch. All iPod products require the use of iTunes to move music from a personal computer to the iPod Shuffle and that can be a real hassle for those who do not know how to use it. I learned how to connect my new iPod Shuffle to my iTunes so I could choose from the same reservoir of music that I have on my primary iPod and my wife's MP3 player.

The iPod Shuffle is designed for portability, it is an MP3 player designed for runners and those who want a small MP3 player in the car to take music with them as opposed to c.d.s. As such, it is very small, measuring 1" wide x 1 1/2" long x 3/8" thick. That thickness includes the clip on the back, which may be used to attach this iPod to a sun visor in the car, a lapel on a jacket, or even to a runner's gloves so they do not have to hold this in their hand. This is a very expensive MP3 player for its physical size and for the fact that it only has a 2 gigabytes capacity to it. In this way, this is identical - save the capacity - to every other iPod Shuffle in existence. The purple metal casing is pearlescent and looks more lilac than royal purple. I was not wild about the color, as I tend to prefer dark colors or neutrals to something this pastel. All of the buttons on it are made of hard plastic and the inscrutable little device has a port for both the recharger and headphones.

Getting music onto and off of the iPod Shuffle also requires users to use the same port, but the iPod Shuffle comes with the cord necessary to both recharge the iPod Shuffle through a USB port on one's computer and exchange information with the Shuffle the exact same way. I found that playing music constantly for about thirteen hours drained the battery to the point that I needed to recharge it, which was a distinct difference to the older, used, iPod Shuffle my mother has. Apparently after two year's use, one may expect the battery to fade significantly. As my purple one is new, the fresh battery seems to have a better charge.

The iPod Shuffle has no external speakers, so one must plug headphones into it in order to hear the music on the MP3 player. It comes with the standard white Apple earbud-style headphones and they plug into the same port hole that the other cord fits into. As a result, one may either be playing music or recharging the iPod Shuffle.

Use of the iPod Shuffle is where this becomes so problematic as to not be worth purchasing. First, one must use iTunes to put music onto the Shuffle and remove it. With 2 GB capacity, it is supposed to hold about five hundred songs. I managed to get an annoying 503 songs onto my iPod Shuffle. I write "annoying" because I picked and chose songs and because there is no way to see what song is playing, what is next, etc., I can go through a full 502 songs before I find the one I wanted! This is a terrible waste of time and more often than not, I find myself listening to music I am less engaged to while working out. The interface which illustrates what is on the iPod Shuffle is only available on one's personal computer. To use the iPod Shuffle, one generally has to have a personal computer running iTunes and that can be a hassle for those looking to quickly and cheaply condense a small collection of c.d.s onto the Shuffle.

But the Shuffle operates on simple controls: there is an on/off button which slides to turn on. The front of the orange Shuffle has the five controls this device actually possesses: play/pause, track forward, track back, volume up and volume down. There is no control panel which indicates what one is listening to, what track number or even album one is playing. As a result, the playlist one uploads into the iPod Shuffle becomes a mystery after one disconnects it from their computer. Tracks become a hit or miss and one needs to listen to the beginning of each song in order to determine where they are on the overall playlist and they only know where they are relative to where they want to be if they recall the source material or have otherwise memorized the playlist. I found the lack of an interface irritating, more so with the greater capacity.

The buttons basically work and this iPod Shuffle appears to have been part of a clearance (iPod Shuffles are up to a third generation). Even offered less expensively as part of a clearance, there are vastly better MP3 players that offer users more for less money. Avoid this and either save with something less "trendy" or use the same amount of money to get something which actually offers greater playability.

For other i-products, please check out my reviews of:
iPod Touch
iPad
iPod Nano (5th Generation)

4.5/10

For other electronics reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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Two IPods, No Decent Headphones: IBuds Hurt My Ears!

The Good: They work flawlessly with iPod products
The Bad: Expensive (to replace), No volume control on buds, Hard (hurt ears!)
The Basics: If you lose your iBuds, think carefully about paying full price from Apple to replace them: they offer no volume control, are expensive and hurt ears after prolonged use!


Today, I consider my Apple iBud earphones, which are now called “earbuds.” This is part of the whole Apple brand-name domination of the MP3 marketplace (the only thing I’ve ever seen with i-product name that was truly worthwhile was a MadTV sketch mocking it all with the I-rack – absolutely hilarious, by the way, check it out on YouTube!) and this is arguably the product that is both the most common, ubiquitous and necessary. The iBuds also seem to be the one product no one wants to write negatively, but I have no problem with doing so.

These annoying little things hurt my ears. I grew up in the 1980s, the decade that saw the big headphones of the prior decades made smaller into foam-covered headphones that cushioned the ear while pumping music right down the ear canal. Now, headphones are gone in favor of “earbuds,” which are hard plastic speakers that get shoved right into the ear canal. Well, I’ve worked very hard over the years to protect my ears. In fact, I didn’t go to my first rock and roll concert until I was twenty-one and when I went to see groups like Matchbox Twenty and Paramore, I brought industrial earplugs to dull the volume (lost nothing of the experience, by the way!). So, right off the bat, shoving something into my ear canal like the iBuds is not an experience I’m actually thrilled about.

The iBuds come with ever iPod I know about, but recently while I was at the library, I slammed mine into the DVD-ROM drive of the computer I was clandestinely listening to music on, severing the cord and rendering mine from my iPod Touch (click here for my review of that!) pretty much useless. IBuds come primarily in white and they end in a traditional portable music headphone jack. The male end of the iBud is a thin metal jack which fits into the “female” port on computers, MP3 players, portable stereos, portable c.d. players and anything else that used to accept small jack headphones (not like the big-60s and 70s headsets). White is the traditional iBud color and that does not fit my personal style (black all the way), but Apple seems obsessed with making this a product so instantly recognizable that no one associates them with personal style the way skins for cellphones and i-products are.

One is supposed to place the hard plastic and metal (there is a thin grille of metal that makes up the speaker on the iBud) directly into the ear and it generally remains in place for as long as one can stand it. The iBuds do not have volume control on the actual device. Instead, this is a thin white cord that is about a yard long; plenty long to reach to portable or stationary music source nearby, provided one does not drop it. If one drops or knocks over their music source, depending on the angle, the earbuds will either wrench out of your ear canal (painful!) or it will disconnect from the jack (seldom will the very durable cord actually snap).

In replacing the iBuds which came with my iPod Touch, compatibility issues were important to me. Because the iPod requires one go through Apple to load music onto and off of it, I figured that there might be some proprietary problems with using different headphones or earbuds (i.e. not Apple iBuds). There are not. Fortunately, a jack is a jack and while the iBuds come with the i-products, they do not seem to transmit music any better or worse than non-brand name products.

Ultimately, it was fairly easy for me to not recommend the iBuds for the following reasons: first, they are very expensive. At over twenty dollars, these are ridiculously priced and Apple is essentially charging for the brand name associated with iBud. If you’re not a teenager trying to impress your friends, you are likely to be fine with off-brand earbuds. Second, with these hard earbuds, I find I can only comfortably listen to music for about three hours before the hard plastic begins to irritate my ear canal. While I have no problem with adjusting the volume from the music source, the physical iBud hurts my ears.

As one who truly doesn’t care about style, fashion or the like, I’ve no problem paying less for something that doesn’t have “i” in front of it . . . or hurt my ears.

For other i-products and support products for them, please check out my reviews of:
Griffin Technologies Flexgrip Silicone Case for iPod Touch
iPod Shuffle (3rd Generation)
OrionGadgets Synch and Charge USB Cable For iPad

4/10

For other electronics products, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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A Very Average Case: Apple's Clear Plastic Case For The Nano – Insecure Security.

The Good: Fits the Nano perfectly, Seems durable, Decent protection
The Bad: Expensive
The Basics: A wonderfully durable, but very expensive plastic case, the iPod Nano may be protected without losing the fun of one’s Nano color choice!


With the influx of iPod products into my house in the last few months, there has been an appropriate amount of time, energy and money spent on protecting the various devices. In the case of our new iPod Nano (click here for my review!), protecting it was (literally) a snap with Apple’s Clear Plastic Case. Because it is made by Apple, the Crystal Clear Case is designed to fit onto any iPod 4th Generation Nano device.

The clear plastic case comes in two parts, a front piece and a back piece. As the name suggests, the pieces are made of clear plastic and Apple seems to go out of its way with protection, as the plastic case is 1/8” thick! This does not make the overall iPod Nano terribly bulky as it fits the device like a skin and one ends up carrying around an MP3 player which is 3 ¾” tall, 1 ¾” wide and just over ½” thick. Because it is made by Apple, who makes the Nano, the specific holes needed to make this case work and allow access are perfectly positioned. On the front of the case, there is a 1” in diameter hole cut out so one may access the Nano’s primary control. At the top, there is a ½” opening so one may turn the Nano on and off. The bottom is almost completely open, which allows one to connect their iBuds and powers supply connection without removing the case.

Use is ridiculously simple: snap it around your iPod Nano and forget about it. The clear plastic case allows one to see the Nano screen perfectly; there are no conditions under which I have found glare to be a problem. As well, because the controls are completely exposed, one will have no problem using the wheel or pressing the central button or turning the iPod on or off. This takes the most vulnerable parts of the iPod Nano and protects them from impact, spills, weather and wear. In fact, the clear plastic case seems to also resist scratches and seems generally to be crack resistant as well.

Outside of daily use, I did a few tests for the Crystal Clear Case and I was pleasantly surprised to find it resisted cracking and scratching with minimal drops. I dropped the iPod Nano in the Case from a height of three feet about ten times and not once did the case crack, scratch or even break open. However, this did make me realize one thing; anything that is likely to break this case is also likely to shatter the iPod Nano screen.

Given that my testing was more rigorous than most people will be, this is a great case to protect one’s iPod Nano, which makes one wonder why Apple doesn't just coat their Nano in this from the start!

For other iPod products and ways to protect them, please check out my reviews at:
Griffin iPad Screen Care Kit
Apple Silicone Sleeve For iPod Shuffle
iPad (64 GB)

6/10

For other electronics reviews, please be sure to check my index page by clicking here!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Unrepentant, I Declare The IPod Shuffle An Overpriced, Worthless MP3 Player.

The Good: Small and brand named?
The Bad: Too small, No screen, Small capacity, Annoying to use buttons.
The Basics: After a few weeks of navigating my mother's orange iPod Shuffle, I'm realizing how much I hate trendy little electronics.


I'd like to open my review of the iPod Shuffle with a pretty extended disclaimer for a change and this is the closest to holiday spirit that I get. First off, I have an iPod Touch (click here for that review!) and I am generally quite happy with it. Last year, my mother came home with an iPod Shuffle after her birthday and when that happened, I toyed around with this tiny MP3 player and pretty much hating every minute of it. But when I sat down to pan the living daylights out of this little electronic device, I got to thinking about grandparents and parents who either might not know technology or might not be able to afford the more expensive things. And that led me to the following disclaimer:

There are a ton of MP3 players on the market now, many of which have become tiny portable computers and one looking for a basic MP3 player still has a ton of options available to them. The iPod Shuffle is the bottom market MP3 player from Apple. There are essentially three types of people who you might be buying MP3 players for: those who like bells and whistles, those who want to be trendy and those who want an MP3 player. For the first type, giving an iPod Shuffle is woefully inadequate. This does not even have a screen to inform the user what is going on and it is a basic MP3 player without any video functions: the Shuffle is a poor choice for the technophile. Those who want to be trendy might be the only niche to actually want an iPod Shuffle (see next criteria); because it is an Apple iPod, they will be happy to fit in with their peers who have the brand name iPod even if it is the least-sophisticated model. Then there are those who want an MP3 player. For that niche, it is important to be willing to ask follow-up questions when it comes to gift giving. "IPod" has become synonymous with "MP3 Player" because it is the dominant brand in the marketplace, despite it being a trademarked name (like "Band-Aid" for adhesive strips); if the person you're buying for is demanding an iPod instead of an MP3 player, then they are just trendy and annoying, as opposed to serious about having a portable music source. I write that with full confidence (even knowing it will annoy some) because there are basic MP3 players with similar capacity to the 1 GB iPod Shuffle which have both more features and are half the price. For the same price as this problematically expensive MP3 player, one could get an equally portable MP3 player with more capacity, a simple LCD display and probably still save money. The only people who would be ashamed to receive such a gift would be those who are getting an MP3 player to get an iPod (those slaves to fashion) and there's no real negotiating with that.

That said . . .

My mother returned home in early December (last year) with a 2nd Generation iPod Shuffle with 1GB memory capacity and having had experiences with getting my iPod Touch up and running, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from this device. Even so, it shocked me how difficult to use and annoying this MP3 player actually is. Clearly designed for portability above all else, the iPod Shuffle is a very basic MP3 player, so much so, it does not have any form of screen or indicator. Right off the bat, this raised the question from me, "How do you know where you are and where the song you want is?" The answer is: you don't. . . unless you memorize your entire playlist in the order in which you put it on your iPod Shuffle. This, to me, as an audiophile with a massive collection, is a ridiculous concept.

The iPod Shuffle is designed for portability, it is an MP3 player designed for runners and those who want a small MP3 player in the car to take music with them as opposed to c.d.s. As such, it is very small, measuring 1" wide x 1 1/2" long x 3/8" thick. That thickness includes the clip on the back, which may be used to attach this iPod to a sun visor in the car, a lapel on a jacket, or even to a runner's gloves so they do not have to hold this in their hand. This is a very expensive MP3 player for its physical size and for the fact that it only has a 1 gigabyte capacity to it. The orange metal casing is pearlescent and almost looks coppery. All of the buttons on it are made of hard plastic and the inscrutable little device has a port for both the recharger and headphones.

Getting music onto and off of the iPod Shuffle also requires users to use the same port, but the iPod Shuffle comes with the cord necessary to both recharge the iPod Shuffle through a USB port on one's computer and exchange information with the Shuffle the exact same way. I found that playing music constantly for about ten hours drained the battery to the point that I needed to recharge it, but this is an older iPod Shuffle; brand new ones with new batteries might last longer.

The iPod Shuffle has no external speakers, so one must plug headphones into it in order to hear the music on the MP3 player. It comes with the standard white Apple earbud-style headphones and they plug into the same port hole that the other cord fits into. As a result, one may either be playing music or recharging the iPod Shuffle.

Use of the iPod Shuffle is where this becomes so problematic as to not be worth purchasing. First, one must use iTunes to put music onto the Shuffle and remove it. With 1 GB capacity, it is supposed to hold about two hundred fifty songs, but my mother's was packed by the time I hit 189. This is only about a dozen albums and nine hours worth of music. The interface which illustrates what is on the iPod Shuffle is only available on one's personal computer. To use the iPod Shuffle, one generally has to have a personal computer running iTunes and that can be a hassle for those looking to quickly and cheaply condense a small collection of c.d.s onto the Shuffle.

But the Shuffle operates on simple controls: there is an on/off button which slides to turn on. The front of the orange Shuffle has the five controls this device actually possesses: play/pause, track forward, track back, volume up and volume down. There is no control panel which indicates what one is listening to, what track number or even album one is playing. As a result, the playlist one uploads into the iPod Shuffle becomes a mystery after one disconnects it from their computer. Tracks become a hit or miss and one needs to listen to the beginning of each song in order to determine where they are on the overall playlist and they only know where they are relative to where they want to be if they recall the source material or have otherwise memorized the playlist.

I found the lack of an interface irritating. I had absolutely no idea what I was listening to and when my mom wanted to listen to a specific track, the weakness of the device was perfectly illustrated. She asked me to find a specific track by Loreena McKennit and, as it turns out, her iPod Shuffle is loaded with music by that artist. Every minute and a half until I stumbled upon the right track, I would be interrupted when the song which she asked me to find turned out to not be the right track, but rather one which started the very same way!

The buttons basically worked and the iPod Shuffle has been in operation for a few years, so this is generally a durable device. But those looking for a very basic MP3 player with even only 1 GB capacity will find there are less expensive options on the market, many of which have even a basic track number indicator or enough of a display to figure out what they are listening to. This makes the iPod Shuffle an overpriced, trendy device, even in its generally stylish orange color.

For other Apple electronic devices, please check out my reviews of:
Apple iPad 64 GB
iPod Nano (5th Generation)
OrionGadgets Synch and Charge USB Cable For iPad

3/10

For other electronic device reviews please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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A 16 GB Dark Purple IPod Nano Is Cool, But Not Ideal For A Cinephile.

The Good: Light, Good capacity, Generally decent battery capacity
The Bad: Annoying controls, Truncates video images
The Basics: I end up feeling pretty neutral about the iPod Nano, though it is easy to figure out for new users and has great capacity.


As the links at the bottom will attest, it's a bad time at the Swarts household for independent, freethinking audiophiles. IPod has become synonymous with portable digital music the way "Walkman" (which was a SONY trademark) was with portable cassette players and pretty much every other MP3 player enters the marketplace from a disadvantageous position. In my house, iPods just keep falling out of the sky. Well, not quite the sky, but my mother keeps returning from visiting her sister and returning home with iPods as my aunt upgrades to the latest, best iPod. Yesterday, it was the 16 GB iPod Nano.

This was my first experience with the iPod Nano and it's weird for me because this one came fully loaded, so my experiences are largely with how it operates.

The Basics

The iPod Nano is a 3 1/2" tall (or wide, depending on how you have it oriented) by 1 1/2" wide by 3/8" thick media player. This iPod is one which has a 1 1/4" wide by 1 1/2" tall video screen under which there is a wheel-type control panel. This was the first time I had to deal with the wheel controls and I, frankly, did not like it. The screen is surprisingly detailed. Right now, I have When Harry Met Sally playing and despite the fact that the screen is tiny, the leaves in Central Park in the background of the scene that is playing are clear and have great color definition.

The top of the iPod Nano has a tiny power button which slides on and off. While my iPod Touch has a pair of physical volume buttons, the iPod Nano does not. Below the wheel controls are a 1" in diameter circle with Menu, track back, track forward and play/pause controls with an "Activate" button in the center. The bottom of the iPod Nano has a port for the iBud headphones and a slot for the connector to the computer or the charger. The slot in the bottom is specific to the iPod products and the Nano comes with the connectors which allow it to charge via an USB port connected to a computer or a special recharging adapter.

The purple Nano has a metallic purple finish which is actually a deeper purple that looks very stylish. The metal casing on my iPod Nano came to me untarnished in any way and considering that my aunt had it for at least a year, this is a good sign for durability.

Capacity

The 16 gigabyte capacity is making me a little jealous, as my 8 GB iPod Touch ran out of room before I finished getting my entire music library into it. Rather extraordinarily, the iPod Nano with 16 Gigabytes has such capacity that it holds one feature length movie, five half-hour television programs, 269 songs (29 albums), a complete audiobook (unabridged) and four computer games and still have 9.7 GB of free space on it. So, this is enough capacity for most people who have significant music collections and who want to use their digital downloads from DVDs.

Functionality

The iPod Nano has the usual iPod issues, with a few additional ones. The first iPod issue is that in order to load anything onto the Nano - or to remove material once it is there - one has to upload iTunes and program the Nano. iTunes is essentially the operating system for iPod products and it is through that which all materials get transferred to the iPod. ITunes is easily available on-line at the Apple store and with a high-speed connection it may be quickly installed on the computer. With iTunes, installation of materials is simple.

Use of the iPod Nano is remarkably easy. Turning the power button on and/or connecting the iBuds to the Nano turn the iPod on. This brings up the main menu, which gives users the options of choosing Videos, Music, Photos, Podcasts, etc. To navigate the menus, and this is weird for me as I had a tough time initially getting used to the touchscreen controls on my iPod Touch, one has to run their finger around the outer wheel on the Nano. The white disc is essentially a touch screen. This moves the cursor on the screen up and down the screen depending on whether or not one is going clockwise or counterclockwise. When you hit the option you want, simply press the button in the center of the dial and it is selected. All of the menus go up and down based on the wheel.

Playing a movie, which I was enjoying as I wrote this, presents a physically truncated version of a film. The proportions are noticeably cut, so one does not get a "widescreen" version of a movie while on the iPod Nano. To adjust volume, one uses the wheel. The annoying aspect of video play was that if the Nano gets bumped, it flips the image upside down. So, for example, I nudged the Nano a few minutes ago and suddenly Harry and Sally were laying down rug on the ceiling! To get information or adjust the brightness of the picture, one just needs to press the central button and rotate along the outer dial.

Actually, the controls, once I knew the basic functioning, were quite intuitive. Getting around the Nano took me a few moments to get used to, but once I understood the clockwise/counter-clockwise touch pad, it became very easy to use and I appreciated how this was designed to be simple to use with minimal fuss. So, for example, hitting "Menu" goes back to whatever the last menu or function one used. Movies pick back up where one left them when one goes back forward to them, and the physical "track forward" and "track back" buttons can move the movie to the next Chapter.

As for music, the iPod Nano's music playing is equally intuitive and one can go to songs and albums using the screen, so it is easy to find exactly what one wants. But the music quality is only as good as the digital file one takes it from. So, if one has CD-quality MP3 files, they sound amazing, if one has lesser-quality MP3 or .wav files, they sound less impressive. Listening to the movie, for example, I was acutely aware of the stereo sound and there was a richness to the audio I had not heard before.

Watching a two hour movie has drained the battery halfway, which is not bad. Using it to simple play music presumably extends the battery life. It recharges within an hour from half a charge.

Conclusions

The iPod Nano is convenient and arguably enough for anyone who wants a little more than just a basic MP3 player. However, for a similar price, one could get an iPod Touch with a bigger screen and more applications, but despite feeling a little unenthusiastic by the wheel system, this is an affordable MP3 player which provides audiophiles with enough capacity for a significant music collection. For cinephiles, this is not the ideal digital player for using those digital downloads.

For other iPod products, please check out my reviews of:
iPad 64 GB
iPod Touch

5/10

For other electronics products reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.





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What To Expect When You're Expecting An iPod Touch! (My First Week With An iPod Touch)

The Good: Stylish, Convenient, Cute, Generally decent functionality
The Bad: No stylus, Requires a lot of setup/software, Cannot be upgraded
The Basics: A good MP3 player, the IPod Touch (8 GB) is a pain to get up and running, but is wonderful once it is!

I originally got my iPod Touch last year when I won it as part of a promotion and in the intervening time, I have used it quite a bit, but it is still not the indispensible tool others seem to think it is. Here is my experience with my first iPod product! Enjoy!

I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, the site I was writing on before asked reviewers to join Twitter in order to have the opportunity to win a free iPod Touch, I ignored my partner's taunts that I had suddenly become a twelve year-old girl and happily Tweeted all of my reviews on the chance to win this piece of technology that I could not afford. So, when I actually won (one hundred entries ought to count for something! ;) ) one of the 8 GB iPod Touch mp3 players, I was psyched (and I even promised my partner she could put some of her stuff on it, though, to date it remains filled with my stuff). However, in my first week with this little technological marvel, I have found it to be distracting and problematic more than exciting or even useful.

To understand better, this is intended to be the ideal layperson's review of the iPod Touch. If you've never had an iPod of any sort, this is exactly what to expect when you think the iPod Touch might be right for you. I have never owned so much as a cellular telephone, so this is VERY much the review of someone unfamiliar with mp3 players (brand name or not) and related technologies. This is somewhat an ideal review for those who are using a PC instead of a Mac, as all my interactions with the iPod Touch have been through a PC. And the short version is that I received my iPod Touch at a time when I was very busy with other things, which made it a poor time to receive something with as high a learning curve as this. Even so, the more I have played with this device, the more I have come to enjoy it. Here's how the iPod Touch has changed my last week!

Thursday, September 17 2009 - Received the iPod Touch in the mail. Completely geeked out. The iPod Touch arrived in a solid plastic case that took me about fifteen minutes to break into (determined as I was to not break the case or the iPod Touch inside). The hard plastic case revealed the very stylish looking iPod Touch, which is a 4 1/4" long x 2 1/2" wide x 1/4" deep video screen, essentially. This looks like a little monitor that fits in one's hand and is accessed using controls on the touchscreen.

The 8 GB iPod Touch is very stylish in appearance. The front is a glossy black touchscreen that made me instantly paranoid about getting scratches. The back is a stainless steel casing that has a futuristic (or I suppose, now contemporary) appearance. The back has the Apple logo etched in, along with basic information like the fact that this is an 8 GB iPod. The iPod Touch is very light - only a few ounces and has very few controls on the surface of the device. After breaking into the first hard plastic case, the next step is to get the iPod out of the inner tray. This is actually part of the psych out of the device as it comes attached to a tray with a sticker of the screen covering it. The sticker binds the iPod Touch to the plastic tray. So, once one peels off the sticker and exposes the actual screen, the tabs on either end of the plastic tray may be depressed and the iPod Touch may easily be slid out.

The iPod Touch 8 GB comes with an anemic manual at the back of the hard plastic case, along with the cord needed to connect the iPod Touch to the USB port of any computer. It also comes with the white Apple earbuds that are standard to the iPod Touch. The manual is a small pamphlet which informs users that all they need to do to get anything out of the iPod Touch is go to the iTunes website and download the latest version of iTunes. There are pictures of the iPod doing things after that, but nothing so useful as a note on how to turn the iPod on. Seriously. The iPod Touch's manual is so pointless that there are no directions on how to: turn the iPod Touch on, turn the iPod Touch off, charge the battery on the iPod Touch, use the iPod Touch, or play music, adjust the volume or anything else with the iPod Touch! Apple assumes everyone who has just purchased (or received an iPod Touch knows exactly what to do with it and how). All the manual says is "go to [webaddress] and download the latest version of iTunes to get started." This is a misnomer; it helps to know how to turn the iPod on first!

So, I began poking around the iPod Touch. This is a generally intuitive device in that there are only three physical buttons. The first is a power button on the top of the device. The power button is a small pushbutton that must be held down. After about five seconds of holding the button down, the screen lights up and the iPod begins thinking. The first time this happens, nothing happens; the iPod Touch is looking for a connection to Apple to download the iTunes software.

The two other buttons are the volume up/down on the left side and the "Home" button, which essentially acts as a "Back" button (like on a web browser). The volume buttons are a simple pair of buttons that raise and lower the volume of music being played on the iPod Touch (or the basic sound effects it plays when one is typing or the like). The ports for the iPod Touch are both at the bottom. There is a port for the USB connection (the end in the iPod Touch is a wide, flat port that appears unique to the iPod and the male end (for going into a computer) is a very standard USB connecting end. The negative end, which plugs into the iPod Touch, plugs in easily.

So, my partner and I went to the local library to set up the iTunes account and "synch" the iPod Touch because our computer - being on dial up - is slow as anything. Following the on-screen directions, we soon had the iPod Touch loaded with the appropriate software, which was free. The iPod Touch's OS is 3.1.1 and my first gripe about this product is this: why doesn't the iPod Touch come with its OS already loaded?! It is a big pain in the butt to have to start by downloading software into the iPod Touch when it could come with everything one needs right in it and eliminate any problems with the initial transfer of information to the iPod. However, the first upload seemed to go well: our iPod Touch was reactivated, synched and the opening menus popped right up. For some reason, we also received a dozen songs which allowed us to prove the iPod Touch actually worked.

Turning the iPod Touch on, we found little graphics on the screen for the various applications. I immediately figured out how to turn the Nike application off (not a fan) so when the main screen came up, Nike wasn't there. I was proud of myself. Next, we tested the music. Touching the "music" button, a songlist came up of the few songs that were now on the iPod from the connection we made to iTunes initially. Tapping the individual song, the song began to play. It sounded c.d. quality and the music was decent. The interface was simple, with universal-symbol controls and a fairly easy to use navigation system.

We also decided to try the "Notes" application as that seemed like it would be simple. My partner and I passed notes to one another by touching the application button and a notepad was brought up. We found this application easy to use as a small keyboard came up and we could poke at it. The keys on the keyboard are approximately 1/2 cm. around and they are difficult to hit. It made me instantly wonder why the iPod Touch did not come with any sort of stylus to make typing easier.

We also discovered that when the iPod Touch is plugged into a USB port, the battery will be recharged . . . so long as the computer is able to recognize it as an iPod. This means that our library's computer easily began to charge the iPod Touch's battery, but that when we plugged the iPod Touch into our home computer, it would not charge. We put the iPod Touch up for the night having loaded only the OS and played with the notes program on it.

Turning off the iPod Touch is another study in redundancy. After holding down the On/Off button for five seconds, a slide button appeared on the screen to actually turn the iPod Touch off. In other words, there is a hardware and software control one must activate in order to turn the iPod Touch off. After the first few hours with the iPod Touch, I was still excited. My partner and I talked about putting all of our c.d.s onto this device and then freeing up all sorts of shelf space for the future. We were psyched.

Friday, September 18 2009 - Eager to get on with the backing up of all our music, we plugged the iPod Touch into our PC. It would not recognize it. So, we went to the library and uploaded the iTunes software to our flash drive and brought it home. We were informed our PCs needed a Service Pack for Windows in order to run the installation of the iTunes software. With the library closed and the Service Pack being a bit larger than we liked, we decided to wait until we could get the software from the library the next day.

The Notes program became a nice way to flirt with one another while we waited.

Saturday, September 19, 2009 - Got the Service Pack from Microsoft and rushed home to install that and the iTunes software. Everything installed correctly on both my PC and my partners! Both computers now have iTunes (very exciting). Neither computer recognizes the iPod Touch. Yes, both our computers know that the device attached to the computer is an iPod Touch, but neither one has the drivers for it so that the iTunes library may interface with the actual iPod. In other words, our computer and iPod Touch cannot talk with one another. Not so happy anymore.

Sunday, September 20 2009 - Spent an hour and a half looking for drivers for Windows 2000 systems for the iPod Touch. Found many articles online informing me of similar problems people had, no solutions evident from either Apple or Microsoft.

We went to lunch and afterward purchased a skin for the iPod Touch so it would not get scratched up. While at the store, we learned that there is no way to upgrade the memory on the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch 8 GB has eight gigabytes worth of capacity and there is no way to change that. Want to make it a 16 or 32 GB iPod? Too bad! You have to buy another. FYI; most places will not allow you to exchange an iPod 8 GB for a model with more memory unless you bought it there and have not removed it from the package.

We begrudgingly used the iPod Touch to time our nightly walk. I grumbled about how our $200 device was doing the work of a dollar store digital timer. My partner shut me up by playing a Beethoven track from the iPod Touch.

Monday, September 21, 2009 - I wasted more time trying to find the correct patches which would allow our iPod Touch to use iTunes on our Windows based systems. We did not find any. So, I tried to begin the process of using iTunes on our computers to start backing up our c.d. collections. Instead, I managed to create a massive, disorganized folder on my computer of EVERY media file present on the computer. Every song, video and the like was plopped into the iTunes folder in a jumble that is massive and terrifying (I don't even know where some of these files came from!). Clicking the "Import CD " button on iTunes many, many times did absolutely nothing, so I gave up for the night.

I refused to take the iPod Touch with us on our nightly walk.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - I awoke early to go to the library to truly delve into the iPod Touch.  I trudged off to the library to begin opening the iPod Touch up and writing this very review.

With my entire c.d. collection on my back, I headed out and I brought a DVD as well. Plugging the iPod Touch into my library's computer, I had to once again install iTunes 9 onto the library's computer. That was not a problem. So, then , I began doing my experiments. It took me literally one hour to download the Digital copy of Watchmen into my iTunes folder. And now that the film is there, it won't play. I felt happy; simply plugging the iPod Touch into the computer while iTunes was activated began a synch of the device and the file library on iTunes. All of a sudden, my copy of Watchmen was on my iPod Touch. I tapped "Movies," there was a picture of the movie poster. I tapped it and the screen went dark and I was delighted that it was about to play. Only, it didn't. The screen said "This movie could not be played." The librarian glared at me when I began to swear.

So, I've begun copying my c.d.s to my iTunes folder here at the library. I started in alphabetical order. So, my first take was with the Fiona Apple album Tidal. With iTunes properly installed, each time a c.d. was placed into the cd drive of the PC I was on, iTunes acknowledged it as a new device. By clicking on the c.d.'s title, a track listing was brought up and from there, I "Select All" in the window and drag the contents to my music file in iTunes. Each c.d. is copied and iTunes even looks up the album covers for each album, which is pretty cool. Backing up a c.d. takes about five minutes on the system I am using. Every few discs, I close iTunes, plug my iPod Touch back into the computer and open iTunes again. This starts a synch and all of my new files in my iTunes folder are placed on my iPod Touch. As of right now, I have eight albums that have been successfully placed on my iPod Touch.

Those eight albums represent 97 songs and 842 megabytes of space taken up on the iPod Touch. Along with my malfunctioning copy of Watchmen (almost 3 GB) this seemed alarming to me. It was then that I discovered that when one imports c.d.s iTunes, the default setting is for AAC format, which plays perfectly in the iPod Touch, but is annoyingly bulky as far as files go. With AAC files, my iPod Touch would be lucky to hold seventy albums worth of c.d.s or about 800 songs. I thought this was strange and went into the help files online to try to fix this. The iTunes Help section actually had a place to correct this. So, I started to import all of my c.d.s as MP3 files. The difference is this: the nine albums I now have on my iPod Touch have 137 songs and occupy 648.8 MB (a total of 3.96 MB is currently left because the OS takes up almost 200 MB of space). For an even better example, one song in AAC format was 10.5 MB; in mp3 format it takes up only 6.3 MB. The only annoying aspect of this conversion is that all of the original files (from the discs I had already loaded onto the iPod Touch) remained present after the conversions were done and had to be manually deleted (i.e. the songs were present in iTunes in both AAC and MP3 formats until I deleted the AAC versions). Converting the formats took about two minutes on the computer.

So, listening to Tidal while I continue to convert files into MP3 files led me to notice no differences between the c.d. and MP3 versions of the songs. I tend to notice more differences between playing music on stereos as opposed to anything with headphones and that holds true here. The audio quality is quite good on the iPod Touch. As well, the interface is very easy to use. With the flick of a finger, I can move between albums, artists or an alphabetical listing of all of the tracks on the iPod Touch. Volume control is easily maintained through a slide control at the bottom or by adjusting the physical buttons on the sides.

Now that I have those wrinkles ironed out (I'm still awaiting a call from Apple to fix my Watchmen video and figure out what is going on there!) the process is going much smoother. Outside the occasional hiccup (like a track from a Sheryl Crow compilation suddenly appearing as its own album) the process is now going much smoother and by tonight, I anticipate I shall have my entire c.d. library on this little device.

So, other things about the iPod Touch. The battery. The longest I have had this disconnected from the computers has been 35 minutes. The rest of the time, it has been charging through the USB transfers. In that time, the battery indicator went down by only a few pixels - so little that my partner denied it even recognized a change (I saw it, though). The earbuds are hard, plug into the bottom and work fine. In addition, the iPod Touch 8 GB has a wireless modem. The wi-fi connection works wonderfully even with the casing over the sensor. The internet is actually faster on the iPod Touch than it is on my dial up PC. The iPod Touch also has a neat little function which is that when one turns it, the screen turns for a widescreen presentation.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - Deleted Watchmen from the iPod Touch in order to get it fixed/make more room for music (still have 5 gb space and I'm only about a third of the way through my c.d. collection!). The process is going smoothly now.

I also downloaded my first digital download. That process was made remarkably easy through the iTunes store. After the digital download (Imogen Heap's new album) was downloaded to my iTunes, I had to remember to move it over to the iPod, but that was no problem.

What is a problem is capacity. I now have 1508 songs on my iPod and it is not my entire c.d. collection. This is a big disappointment as I had been hoping to have my entire musical library on the iPod Touch and still be able to do other things with it. This is not the case.

Also, I thought it would be worth noting that the iPod Touch does not have a camera on it. I mention this because with the wi-fi connection and the ability to connect Bluetooth technology to it, it can essentially become a phone. But, it does not have a physical camera in it, so it cannot be used as such.

It is also worth noting that when the earbuds are removed while playing music, the iPod Touch pauses the playback of music. This is a cool feature and one I did not expect.

All in all, the iPod Touch is a cool device, but it has a much, much higher learning curve to it than any other Apple product I have ever used. The software is irksome, the interface would be much easier to use with a stylus and I would have liked a way to upgrade without having to buy an entirely new iPod. That said, this is a cool little device and I am grateful to have it. For those just getting into the whole iPod thing, though, this may offer way too many options with too little support initially.

7/10

For other electronics reviews of mine, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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