3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Whoop Dee iDoo
Date of Review: Dec 14, 2005
The Bottom Line: This MP3 player is probably the best on the market right now, but there could be a better combination of features.
I purchased a 20GB color-screen 4th generation iPod from Circuit City when my little Rio Karma MP3 player died after one year's use. Since I had the Circuit City "Protection Plan" (a warranty) for the Karma, I was issued a $250 Circuit City gift certificate and so was limited to what MP3 players CC had in stock. Since I could not buy another Karma (darn!), I chose the next best thing, and the most reputable and super-cool... drum roll... iPod.
What I want from an MP3 player is sturdiness, at least a 20GB capacity, good battery life, and an intuitive and manageable interface. I also want something that interfaces with my iBook, and which plays the .OGG music format. I also like being able to edit songs and playlists on the device itself. iPod was therefore a compromise after owning the Rio Karma, which had all of these things.
I was instantly disappointed in the way the iPod scratches up. What is this thing built for, a fairy princess? I covered the face with a piece of clear packing tape length-wise, and bought a Belkin condom for it. Great. More bulk to carry around. I'm thinking I might buy some fine-grit sandpaper and just get it over with. Sand the thing. It's not going to stay all pretty and shiny forever, if even for a minute.
The battery life is good compared to the excellent battery life of the Karma, but to iPod's credit, it charges quickly. The battery monitor icon reads like a broken gas gauge. Charge it when it hits the half-way mark, or suffer without music.
My friend swears by the no-moving-parts dials and doohickeys, but I think they're for fairy princesses. The Karma had a nice pencil eraser-sized joystick nub to scroll through menus and songs, and a click-click round dial for moving more quickly (and accurately) through menus. The iPod has a dial that you touch lightly and can also push, but I often have to touch clockwise, then a little bit counter-clockwise, then clockwise again to get the cursor where I want it. It overshoots. And there is no satisfaction in depressing the dial, it barely moves and does not click. Sometimes it does not even do what you want it to the first time. Obviously this is an acquired taste (and touch).
My biggest pet peeve is that you cannot trust the thing to stay OFF when you turn it off. If you plug anything into it, the iPod will turn on. You must lock it off with a switch on the top that is quite difficult to move. I'm talking you need fingernails, fairy princess. This is a liability with battery life, because if you plug it in to charge or into your powered speakers or whatnot and walk away, when you come back it will be dead.
You cannot edit content from the device itself. Everything must be done through iTunes, which, when you have over 15GB of music like me, becomes arduous and messy. Sometimes when I'm listening to my iPod I get the urgent desire to delete a song, but cannot! By the time I get it plugged into my iBook with iTunes running, I cannot remember the songs I wanted to delete. The Karma also had the nice feature of being USB andEthernet compatible. Well, iPod is USB 2, and Rio was only USB 1...
The iPod works well on jogs. No skipping, but it's pretty heavy with all the armor.
The sound of my iPod through my powered Yamaha speakers is excellent. Too bad it doesn't play .OGG. Heh.
The headphones supplied with iPod pretty much died within one week. The bass lines kick out tinny static. The Karma came with AMAZING Sennheiser MX300 earbuds - durable with wonderful sound. I bought a second pair on eBay. It's a good idea to have different headphones than the stock iPod headphones. The white cording gives away the fact that you have laid down the Benjamins on nothing other than an iPod, and especially if you live in the projects, you're going to get your @55 robbed (and maybe shot and killed). I'd recommend simple black earbuds like the Sennheiser MX300s!
The charger/USB cable supplied with the iPod works just fine. No complaints. Cute engineering. Since the dock costs just $35 or so, why don't they just go ahead and include it with the iPod package? From what I've read it's a joke anyway.
I don't expect to use the photo display feature of this iPod. I do like it when it displays album cover art in color, though.
I am excited to learn more about hacks for the iPod. I assume there are all sorts of workarounds for the problems I expect to experience with the organization on my iPod HD. I feel silly admitting it, but I am also excited when I see things like colored jellies and skins for the iPod. But I also feel silly with my $300 iPod in public, because I am fully aware that I have spent about $150 of this money on gimmick and image, and that I look like a yuppy fairy princess.
