I bought the 4GB Nano and Apple announces this product just a month later. Most Apple stores are displaying the product on Tuesday, October 25, but for some reason, the Apple Store in Bridgewater, NJ, has been selling and displaying the product since mid-October (Some of the Apple stores have said they aren't selling the product till Tuesday October 25 as well). They have on display the 30GB white Video iPods but that wasn't the model I wanted. They did have the 60GB model in black (according to the Apple representative, the 60GB are in extremely limited availability and that I was lucky to get one). I charged the $369 + sales tax (the educational discount for students and faculty is a big break!) to my poor and overworked credit card and raced home to try my new toy.
Short Take
Where the Nano is ultraportable, the Video iPod is meant to be more of a pocketable multitasker of sorts. The size is still easily portable and the device sleek looking but the unit still has it's ups and downs. As a music player, the unit maintains the same excellent iPod usability and tight integration with iTunes. On Video playback, it is a mixed bag. Still photos look excellent overall on the screen although the limited color range is more notable with the larger screen as compared to the Nano. Purchased videos from the iTunes stores look overall great although dark scenes can be very difficult to make out (example, episode 2 of Lost Season 2). Whether the Video iPod is better in video playback than Portable Media Jukeboxes is questionable. One only needs to look at iRiver's products for more flexible portable video playback units.
On the downside, the design of the Video iPod is pretty much an enlarged iPod Nano, so any scratches will be more evident especially on the Black model. I haven't taken the unit out of the house till I receive my invisible shield full body protector in the mail (I've been using one with my PSP and iPod Nano, they are great!). There is no solid programs to convert video files to a format the Video iPod will play consistently. Apple's QuickTime Pro is extremely limited and third party programmers have decent although imperfect solutions (although I expect this to change in a relatively short time). Very quick movements on videos can be a bit blurred (although the PSP has similar issues).
The price of the new Video iPod is extremely reasonable considering the price of the prior units. Running $299 for 30GB and the $399 for 60GB. Both units are structually similar although the 60GB unit is about 25% thicker than the 30GB model. The battery life is also longer in the 60GB unit due to the larger battery in that model.
The Video iPod is a great successor to the color iPod line... however, if you don't need any of the premium video content (like the best quality versions of the ABC's hit shows for the season) the Video iPod is not the best video playback unit available. I would consider Sony's PSP and Archos's portable media players better overall video playback solutions.
Prices The standard prices of the Video iPod is $299 for 30GB and $399 for 60GB. There is a $30 discount through Apple for students and educators if you qualify for those catagories. Although there is a $100 difference for the extra 30GB, the 60GB model is also significantly thicker than the 30GB model. There are some online merchants taking $5 off the price and/or adding freebies (FM transmitter) with sales of the Video iPod. I will list some methods of saving money on this unit at the very end of this review.
You can read my article
The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth! to find some tips for saving a little money on electronic purchasing.
Specs and Design Apple boasts that the new Video iPod is smaller than the last generation of color iPods (4th generation). The Video iPods (5th generation) is significantly smaller than the 4th generation... at least the 30GB model is 40% smaller. The 60GB is 10%... maybe even 15% smaller than the old 20GB color iPod. The main difference is the thickness as the height and width are the same as prior iPods. The dimensions of the 60GB iPod are 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.55 inches (0.43 for the depth of the 30GB Video iPod) and a weight of 5.5 ounces (4.8 ounces for the 30GB unit).
The design is similar to the recently released iPod Nanos with a three layer design. There is the bright silver/chrome back, the middle black or white upper casing, and a clear polycarbonate layer on top of that. Like the Nano, the polycarbonate layer seems to attract scratches (more of the little nicks of the annoying variety). The headphone (also acts as a Video out with the appropriate extra cable) jack and hold switch are at the top of the unit. The bottom has the same old dock connector. You get an excellent 2.5 inch LCD screen with LED backlight capable of 280,000 colors (as per one Apple spec sheet... another spec sheet states over 65,000 colors) and is suitable to display photos and most video. The Click Wheel remains flush to the unit as well.
The Click Wheel remains responsive... as quick as the Nano. Some of the exquisite sensitivity I noted on the Nano units seems to have carried over to the Video iPod as well... A quick twitch could easily turn the volume up or down very rapidly. Faster circling around the Click Wheel sped you through lists of songs while inching around the Click wheel let you go a song at a time. I don't have enough videos to see if case still holds (but it should).
The design does suffer from some former iPod complaints. The clear polycarbonate layer as well as the back attract fingerprints way too easily. The clear layer is also somewhat easy to scratch as well. What I mean by that... the unit picks up annoying little nicks and dings although they don't usually make any major problems in the performance of the Video iPod. I found using products like the invisible shield screen protector greatly decreased or eliminated this problem however (www.theinvisibleshield.com). A case would do a similar job when they become available. At least the Video iPod doesn't have the headphone jack on the bottom of the unit like the Nano did.
In Use... The Music, The Photos, and Navigation Like the most recent generation of iPod, the Video iPod is on par or slightly better than the Nano on playback. I was extremely pleased with it and the loudness of the unit even on the included Apple earbuds. Most people will not notice any slight sound distortions. There are no audio delays going from one song to another. The unit does not skip under mild jostling but this is a hard drive based MP3 player so keep that in mind (there is the potential). The Video iPod is capable of playing the following music files:
AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Music Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF
There are 22 preset equalizer settings on the Video iPod and most basic features for music playback are easily accessible via the Video iPod's controls. The Video iPod remains an excellent music player... and doesn't seem to have any of the slowdown issues I had with the Nano.
Navigation remains quick and easy due to easy to use Click Wheel. This remains my favorite way of navigating through hundreds even thousands of songs... especially with the ability to group songs by albums, composer, artist, and the such. The occassional slight visual glitch where the screen display slows down in changing menus or switching to the song information seen in the Nano did not seem to be apparent in the Video iPod.
Photos are handled the same way as the old iPod Photo and current generation iPod units. Photos must be synced through iTunes before you can display them on the iPod Nano. iTunes will reformat the image to a small thumbnail so that the Video iPod can quickly display it on your 2.5 inch screen. Unless you check the box in iTunes, you will not transfer the actual photo files to your Video iPod to tranfer to other computers. The causes a bit of waste in the memory space department since you are technically storing the image twice on your iPod. The images are vibrant and sharp for the screen... no complaints there. If comparing this to viewing pictures on the PSP, I would say that the PSP wins this battle. The wider color range and larger screen makes the Video iPod a bit weaker in comparison. The Video iPod seems to be on par with the Portable Media Centers from Archos and iRiver. You can easily set a slideshow on the Video iPod screen with your choice of music. iTunes is capable of transferring the following file types for "viewing" on the Video iPod:
Syncs iPod-viewable photos in JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, PSD (Mac only) and PNG formats
Video Overall, the video playback from the Video iPod is quite good... although not the best. Colors are bright and the picture is sharp for the demos Apple includes with the iPod. Purchased show episodes from Lost were quite good overall... although dark scene were often difficult to make out in a well lit room. I didn't note any blurring issues on the screen but I didn't view any clips with fast paced action sequences either. Note that I do not have the video out cables to see how playback is on an external monitor/TV... all viewing was done with the 2.5 inch screen on the video iPod itself.
When you select a video for playback, it does take the Video iPod several seconds before it starts playback which makes sense since the Video iPod has to uncompression and decode it. Larger files take longer to start... up to 10-15 secs at times.
You don't get options for altering the brightness or gamma correction for video playback. Video playback is limited to MPEG4 and H.264 codecs only (video compression schemes). On top of that, the only "official" way of creating videos is through QuickTime Pro which is an extra $30 and a poor solution at best for video conversion (especially if you have your own video collection on your computer). Third party software is available (and much of it is free) but are not always consistent with creating a quality conversion to a file type the Video iPod can handle (although this should correct itself over time).
For the most part, the Video iPod is basically restricted to content downloaded from the iTunes 6.0 store if you don't have Quicktime 7 Pro or convert video through a third party program (which isn't guaranteed to work in practice).
I'm currently using Videora (www.videora.com) for most of my Video iPod conversions... it's not perfect but it gives me acceptable results. I have version 0.8 right now.
Overall, the video capabilities really are "just icing on the cake" to use Steve Jobs' exact words. The video capabilities will not be the reason to buy the video iPod since there are much better solutions for video out there (Archos products far outperform the Video iPod in this respect and offer far more flexibility). For video, the Video iPod is merely mediocre and rather inflexible for experienced users. However, Apple has made it easy to obtain video content (although you have to pay for most of it) which may be the breakthrough the portable video market needs... like the iPod + iTunes did for the music industry. I think if future firmware adds some additional video settings (brightness and gamma corrections would be nice) and a strong video converter comes out for the iPod (whether it be from Apple or anyone else) the Video iPod would rocket from mediocre to above average (perhaps even excellent).
iTunes 6.0 Apple released iTunes 6.0 after a buggy iTunes 5.0. The overall design changed slightly to highlight the video options on the Video iPod (i.e. more like a banner on the top of the window highlighting video of the day and new content). Note that to upgrade to QuickTime 7 and the H.264 codec, you have to install iTunes 6.0. It seems that QuickTime 7 and iTunes are inseperable now.
iTunes still remains easy to use for the audio department... however, for video functions, it still remains a bit foggy. It's been well known that iTunes has many advanced functions but that most people don't know about them... or at least how to access them. Many of these are not documented in the iTunes help manuals for some reason. iTunes does not give you a way to convert DVDs to Video iPod content or give you a way to convert your non-Video iPod video files to Video iPod compatible content. This further shows that the video capabilities of the Video iPod is more of an extra feature than a primary part of the iPod feature sets.
The iTunes store is as functional as ever. It is fairly easy to find the songs and the video clips you want to purchase. Overall, the prices are 99 cents a song and $1.99 per music clip or episode of an available show. Downloading videos over iTunes really requires a high-speed connection... with cable modem, Lost episodes took me up to 5 minutes an episode to download.
As of now, I haven't had any problems with iTunes 6.0.
Battery Life The battery on its first charge lasted 16 hours over the course of 3 days. Not bad overall. My second run is at 17 over three days. Overall, that is pretty close to what Apple's stated battery life. Note that the battery life measured mostly audio playback... and 10-15 minutes of video. I should note that the batteries are not user replacable and that you will see battery life diminish after 1 to 2 years of use. The battery is 80% charged in 2 hours via a powered USB 2.0 port. It takes 4 hours to fully charge in this manner.
With pure video playback, I average about 2 1/2 to 3 hours of battery life (so far three full recharge cycles... playback was not continuous as well but over the course of the day).
Apple maximum battery life is tested under conditions where the iPod has a set playlist with the backlight off and the iPod is set to continuous play.
Note that the Video iPod can be charged via the Firewire cables but you cannot sync it via Firewire as far as I can tell.
Connecting to a Computer and Use as an External Hard Drive The Video iPod can sync via USB 1.1 connections although it is slow. I still have to verify transfer speeds of the Video iPod with HD Tach... but I'm still waiting for my invisible shield screen protectors to come in first (current testing with HDMark).
Firewire does NOT seem to be an option to sync the Video iPod. So as of now, Firewire users are out of luck.
Extras The Video iPod has a World Clock capable of showing three different time zones (not including the primary), an Alarm clock which functions exceptionally well as with most iPods, 4 games, store Contact information if you had a vCard on the patient, store notes (can display text files if you placed the files in the right directory), Calendar, and a nice looking stopwatch feature. Note that this iPod does allow you to create playlists on the unit itself and rate your music files... and all that information gets synced back to iTunes when you connect to your computer.
If english isn't your first language, you have options to set the iPod to any of the following:
Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese and Turkish
If you wanted .ogg music file playback, this isn't the MP3 player for you. There is no FM tuner on the Video iPod. There are no recording options like in some other MP3 players. Keep that in mind when making your decision when comparing to other MP3 players.
In the Box You get a USB dock connector cable, the iPod white earbuds, 2 sets of foam coverings for the earbuds, iTunes version 6.0 software and PDF instruction manuals on a single CD, and a slipcase. You have to buy the actual USB AC adapter if you want to charge the Video iPod away from a computer or a USB 2.0 hub.
Accessories? Like the Nano, there are very few Video iPod specific accessories available. Unlike the Nano, the Video iPod has a close shape to the older iPod models and most accessories (like cases and the such) should fit on the Video iPod although a bit loosely. Most power adapters that worked with the iPod mini should work with the Video iPod. The video out composite cable is probably a nice pickup.
Cases specifically for the Video iPod weren't available when I wrote this... However, I am waiting for my invisible shield screen protector to arrive in the mail. You can check www.theinvisibleshield.com for more information on this laminate that made my Nano scratch resistant (and should make like Video iPod more protected as well).
I have placed the invisible shield full body protector on my Video iPod. This stuff is great! Although your iPod doesn't have the same smooth feeling as it came out of the box and the surface has a glossy appearance (like a photo print from the shop), my Video iPod is nearly scratch proof! The invisible shield does not affect screen clarity in the slightest with the backlight on... although with the backlight off, the glossy sheen is a bit annoying on occassion. Regardless, it was an excellent investment for my Video iPod! As far as attachments that extend the capabilities of your iPod like the voice recorders and the such, the Video iPod does not have the extended headphone jack found on previous full sized iPods. So any accessory that utilizes the headphone plus 4 pin jack will not work with the Video iPod! You have to wait for updated accessories that will likely run through the dock connector instead... unless there is something special about the 3.5 mm headphone jack that Apple hasn't documented on yet (which I doubt).
You can read my review on the
Logitech mm50 portable speakers for the iPod. I love these things. They are a fair size with very few compromises on quality and sound!
Competition? This is tough... the most likely competition is the Sony PSP, Portable media players especially the ones from Archos, Handheld computers/PDAs, and high end cell phones. To a lesser degree, ultracompact notebooks are also a large source of competition. For portable music playback, the iPod is still without peer for its price range. However, for Video... if you can live without having those ABC shows on your Video iPod one day after they air on TV (Desperate Housewifes I don't really care about... but Lost... I must have my Lost. If Apple can get House, MD, and 24 on their video list too...), there are better players out there... much better actually. The PSP is more flexible and cost similar (with a 1 or 2 GB Memory Pro stick) and the Archos players (AV420!) would rank much higher on my list for video playback. The Archos AV420 is by far a more flexible and capable video performer than the Apple Video iPod... although it is a bit more expensive (but you get what you pay for!).
Creative's new Zen Vision M (read my recent review here) also looks promising (previews and reviews of the unit sounded upbeat about this unit). The lack of consistent way to transfer your own videos and material is what knocks the Video iPod down a few notches... but you still get a superb audio player at a shirt pocketable size and weight with rudimentary video features! Very few products can offer that and at a reasonable price to boot.
Money Saving tips
Although these can be applied to various items especially other electronics, I am doing this specifically for Apple iPod products since they rarely drop in price from Apple's MSRP until Apple discontinues production on it (at least that is the most common scenario). I composed a few ways to save a few bucks on the iPod here... especially if you want to try before you keep your purchase. Note that purchases from the Apple store or Apple.com website means you subject yourself to the extremely inflexible returns policy (10% restocking fee for returns whether it is defective or NOT!).
If you have never shopped at Crutchfield.com, this is a good place to buy your Video iPod from. Crutchfield has excellent customer service, provides additional printed material on connecting to other devices, and offers a vast array of online help. On top of that, you get free shipping on purchases over $249 and no sales tax unless you live in Virginia. Since the Video iPod doesn't have a significant price drop from any reputable store, crutchfield is an excellent place to buy one... especially with their flexible return policy. On top of that, using a referral code will also net you a $20 discount (first time shoppers only!) and give the referrer a $20 credit at Crutchfield as well. If you have friends that shop at Crutchfield, they will have a referral code. I also have one but cannot post it in an epinion. I get in stock purchases from Crutchfield within 2-3 business days! Use the link from epinions to reach Crutchfield.com.
Another quick discount is using the A9.com search engine. Why? This is amazon.com search engine that also incorporates results from google.com. When you use the A9 for a certain period of time, you earn a 1.57% discount from purchases made at amazon.com (note that amazon must be the seller of the product! Someone selling a product through Amazon.com site does NOT earn the discount!). Couple this with amazon's overall good customer service, no sales tax, potential free shipping, and flexible return policy, it makes purchasing the Video iPod from amazon very tempting.
PCMall.com, MacMall.com, PCConnection.com, MacConnection.com, and affliated sites are decent places to shop as well. Often the price will be lower by $5-10 with free accessories (after rebate of course) and sometimes a decent mail-in rebate is available on top of that (at the time I write this, there is a $30 mail-in rebate at the PCConnection.com site). There is no sales taxes expect for people in California but S&H do apply. The PCMall and MacMall sites allow for the same laser engraving that is available at the Apple.com store. I don't have experience with their customer service department but I believe it is more flexible that Apple.
Target.com is a decent place to buy the Video iPod (when it becomes available for sale there). You will often find a 10% coupon to use and the return policy is much better than Apple's policy. However, target.com charges sales tax and S&H charges. If you want to purchase from Target.com, I would recommend using a Citibank credit card that is enrolled in the Thank You Merchants Program since that will give you up to 7 points per dollar spent at target.com (5000 points gets a $50 gift certificate to places like Target. 3000 points gets a $25 certificate). Purchasing in this manner automatically nets you at least a $25 gift certificate for a variety of stores.
Buy.com is another good place to make a cheap purchase. Buy.com will have a small discount with available dollars off or small percentage coupons available to further lower the price. Couple this with the often free shipping and no sales tax to most of the US (I believe they are based in California) and sites like ebates.com or fatwallet.com can lower the price of the Video iPod up to 10%! However, the customer service at buy.com leaves something to be desired.
