$500 is a lot of money to spend on anything, especially a portable music player. I waited a long time for the iPod to come out for PC and bought an inferior MP3 player along the way (Nomad II).

The iPod is actually worth the money. The 20GB capacity is more than sufficient for my original 6GB MP3 collection. I spent a couple of days ripping every CD I have at 128KB and uploading it to the iPod. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised that 2,600 songs I owned barely made a dent to the iPod's overall capacity. This stood in marked contrast to my then current MP3 player, a Nomad II, which only had 64MB of memory onboard with an additional 128MB card (that frequently wouldn't accept new songs via USB). I hated continuously changing the songs on my Nomad.

Filling the iPod has actually become an enjoyable challenge for me. Currently my iPod still has 12.2GB available memory despite the fact that it's currently got all my most valuable desktop files backed up onto it as well as 3,026 audio files.

Justifying the cost of the iPod has lead me to use it in new ways other than just as a music player. I frequently rent audio book CDs from the local library now and rip them onto my iPod. This is all accomplished pretty quickly and in about 10-15 minutes I have a new book I can listen to while commuting to work or watching my daughter play in the park.

I have to say, that after my TiVo, the iPod is probably the most valuable piece of electronic equipment I own. It's a time-saving, space-saving marvel. The iPod is also very light and slim so taking it everywhere with me is not cumbersome. I can't help myself quietly mocking people I see on the bus or train when they're struggling with their CD collection and I muse how I have every CD my wife or I have ever owned on this little white and chrome marvel.

The sound quality is great and navigation on the iPod interface a breeze and actually fun. The wheel mechanism makes searching for a particular artist, album or song enjoyable. The iPod includes random play at the song, album or artist level. The backlight is easy to read in the dark and the iPod has a safety lock to prevent accidentally turning it off or on. So far, walking, running or cycling, I haven't had the iPod skip on me. Occasionally, the iPod will freeze as its hard drive searches for a song but it's a few seconds at the most.

As for the bad. The MusicMatch software isn't intuitive but I've actually stayed with it and it's quite functional. I've kept the headphones which fit my ear comfortably for hours at a end. I wish the iPod could support a replacement battery but so far have rarely ended up with a dead iPod while away from a power outlet. Uploading and downloading is very fast via firewire and overall this is a great product.

Update - 050104: I still use my iPod on a daily basis and use iTunes to load it with purchased music and manage my archived collection of MP3s. I wanted to add that I've really enjoyed listening to audio books from audible.com on my iPod. I probably have 10 books on my player now along with 3,700 various songs. I highly recommend anybody purchasing an iPod check out audible.com at some point for audio content other than music. The audible.com content actually integrates with your iPod quite nicely.




Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 500.00
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection