iPod: Changing the face of music.
Pros:
Easy to use. Small. Stylish. Great sound quality. Versatile.
Cons:
They don't make one big enough for my whole music collection. Scratches easily.
The Bottom Line:
Get one. It is the coolest device ever. There is no real competition in the digital music player market.
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Author's Review
Like the Walkman before it, the iPod is becoming the ubiquitous symbol of mobile music. Unlike the Walkman, iPod brings a new dimension to music and has really changed the world of music and listening to music forever.
The iPod is an amazing device. Apple has gone out of their way to perfect the music player. The iPod is the size and weight of a deck of cards or pack of cigarettes. In that package, you can store thousands of songs. For many people more than their entire music collection can easily be contained on an iPod. All on a device smaller than one cd.
The iPod is easy to use and fun. The iPod interacts with the iTunes software which is available from Apple Computer for free for Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows 2000. The software is intuitive and easy to use. "Rip" all your CDs as the open MP3 or AAC file formats (sorry no support for the closed proprietary demon that is WMA). You can also purchase songs from the iTunes Music Store for 99 cents per tune. The Music store rules and offers an easy and LEGAL way to obtain digital music. Many stores have copied Apple's lead, but none come close in terms of ease of use and songs sold. Oh, and Time Magazine named it Invention if the Year.
Once all of your music is in your iTunes library the iPod can interact with iTunes to transfer your music to your iPod. The iPod uses FireWire or IEEE1394 for transfer. This is, of course, standard on all Macintosh computers. For Windows users check with your manufacturer to see if it is an option for your machine. You can add a Firewire card to most PCs for about 30 bucks. The new iPod also supports USB 2.0 as well.
iTunes will allow you to automatically sync with the iPod or manually transfer songs or playlists. Via Firewire you can fill a 10 GB iPod in about 15 minutes.
Once you have the music on your iPod you are ready to go. The iPod uses a basic menu for navigation. The center button moves you forward through menus and the menu button takes you back through them. When you are in a menu, the revolutionary touch screen allows you to scroll through those options in a given menu. You can browse by artist, albums, playlists, genres and songs. find a song hit play and listen. The iPod comes with great sounding ear buds, but they can be a bit uncomfortable for some users.
The best thing about the iPod is that with certain cables and attachements you can use the iPod wherever you listen to music. In your car, home stereo, anywhere. It is a very versitile device for enjoying music.
Some other features? For Mac users you have one touch sync of your Address Book and iCal through iSync. Windows users can do this with additional unsupported software. you can also use the iPod as a portable harddrive for storing and transferring data.
My advice. Get a case. The iPod gets dirty and can scratch easily. Though it looks great, that is one drawback.
he iPod is revolutionary. I love my 10 GB model and have it with me at all times.
