Having lost my original 800,000 word post for this review, I will attempt what will likely be an abbreviated version amidst my great depression. Originally I wrote a long discussion about what I had to do to get the iPod, and I’m not going through all that again. Suffice it to say, I had to suffer a lot of spam and sign up for things like the BMG music club and the Blockbuster online rental club. The way I figured it, total expenses were roughly $120 + $15 per month for the Blockbuster club (which I am free to cancel at any time). For that cost, I got 12 cds from BMG, my wife got a bunch of books in some book club, some web space and we cancelled an account with Columbia House DVD club because their customer service and ability to actually deliver movies we paid for was a joke. (In fact I saved money by opting out of that, so consider I should have spent a bit more than $120 I guess, and was freed of any obligation because their failure to get me movies was beyond absurd) I also cancelled the web space, for which I had paid $89 for a full year and got a pro-rated refund minus a cancellation fee. Aside from tons of storage, I didn’t feel they provided me with anything more than what I get for free at geocities. (freeservers.com – although I will say they had prompt and friendly customer service)
Anyway, that was the out of pocket expense and we got that stuff + a 40 gig iPod. (which retails for $399)
For the reminder of the post, I’ll actually focus on the iPod.
Pros:
I like having 4,337 songs in my pocket. (my current total, which represents about 90% of my cd collection) On a whim, I can hear anything that strikes my fancy. So far I’ve used 17.2 gig of the memory, so I’m not even half way home.
Using iTunes and setting up the iPod is extremely easy. I simply ripped my cd collection or mp3s I got online into the iTunes library, where I can set up playlists and such. When I connect my iPod to my computer with a USB cable it automatically checks for any updates and syncs the iPod with what I have on my hard drive.
The ‘click-wheel’ control on the iPod is pretty sweet. Within five minutes of owning it I could operate it blind in my coat pocket to easily pause it, skip songs or adjust the volume. Simply brushing one’s thumb clockwise or counterclockwise on the click-wheel adjusts the volume and it’s extremely responsive to the touch.
Everything I needed was included in my package. Being an online offer I suspected that they might screw me and not give me headphones or the USB cable or something, but it was all there, including a little stand on which I can connect my iPod to a power source for charging and playing. From what I read online, that doesn’t even come with a lot of them. I also feared they might send me a hot pink one, but I’m happy to say mine is the standard white.
For $34.99 I can buy a FM adaptor that will allow me to play my iPod through my car stereo, so I can have my whole collection in my car, not to mention eliminate the clutter that comes with all the cds I have in the car right now.
Can survive a fall of about four feet onto concrete without suffering any noticeable damage other than a little scratch. Hopefully I won’t push my luck and try this out a second time.
Cons:
While it’s nice to have 4,337 songs in my pocket, the fact is I can only listen to so many in a day and I don’t often have the hankering to hear Track 10 of Reggata De Blanc, for example. So aside from a sense of great power, I’m not sure what having the 40 Mb iPod really gains me and I’d probably be just as well off with the 20Mb version (or maybe even the iPod shuffle). On the bright side, I don’t have to worry about economy of space and I have plenty of room to grow.
There is a “shuffle” feature, but as far as I can tell, it only applies to all the songs on the iPod. In other words, I can’t select a certain playlist and have it play only songs from that playlist randomly. For $400 retail, I would think it would have this feature, although to be honest I’m not sure how much I would use it. I can rate the songs from 1-5 stars, and the random feature will select the ones I like the most the most often, so at least that’s something.
The biggest negative seems to be the battery. A charge lasts approximately 12 hours. According to Apple literature the battery can be fully recharged roughly 150 times before it starts to lose its kick and will slowly fade away, with each charge holding less time. The battery can be replaced by sending it to Apple and paying them $99 to replace it. I’ve seen other stuff where batteries can be ordered online for about $40 with instructions on how to do it yourself, but there is still the matter of lithium battery disposal for the environmentally conscious. It should last a while, but for as much as I use it and plan to use it, the battery life is definitely finite and a maintenance expense.
I love the idea of the iPods, but you have hit upon the two things I am not digging: battery life and lack of playlists. It really sucks to buy something for $400 and then need to pay $100 for a new battery 18 months later.
Also, have 10,000+ songs and no playlists also seems to suck. Information overflow!
To clarify, it has playlists, I just can’t seem to access them randomly. In other words, I have a playlist of all Church stuff w/side projects and I can access and play that, and manually skip through songs, I just can’t make it play that group of songs randomly. It is also a “smart playlist” meaning that if I add a new song by SK, MWP, etc. then it will know to put it in that playlist.
Also, there is actually hope that I will one day be able to do this with no cost of my own. In addition to updating my iPod with my songs in my iTunes, when I connect it to the USB port it also automatically checks the Apple site for new software updates and this in theory could be an improvement I get one day. They also claim they are working on software upgrades to increase the efficiency of hard drive access, and thus make the battery last longer. No doubt the battery is a downside though. In theory, I could do what I just did with all those spam offers and get a brand new iPod for what it might cost me to replace the battery.
Also note that I’m in better shape than original iPod buyers too. First of all battery life has improved. Secondly, it seems there was some sort of civil disobedience move to get Apple to even offer replacement batteries. Originally, consumers were told they had to buy a new iPod when their battery died. I’m sketchy on the details, but I think a disgruntled consumer started ipodsdirtysectret.com and, from what I read, spray painted that URL on a lot of iPod ads.
Correction – My ignorance has been exposed and my co-worker just showed me how to use the shuffle feature on albums or playlists to play these songs randomly. So much for that “con.”
Breaking news – it seems Apple has been found libel in an iPod battery class action lawsuit and will have to pay $50 to everyone who got screwed by the early sucky batteries.