Cons: No PC software, price, could use better encoding software, non-removable battery
The Bottom Line: If you have a Mac with OS version 9.2 or higher, you might consider the iPod with its huge capacity and long-lasting battery. If you don’t...
dkozin's Full Review: Apple iPod 1st Generation 5 GB (MAC) MP3 Player
Have you seen the commercials for iPod on TV? The Apple iPod is definitely no cheap at $395, but it is head and shoulders above your average MP3 player.
The Capacity King
First of all, it uses a hard drive with almost 5Gb capacity, which allows you store huge amounts of MP3 music. If you use encoding at 160 Kbps (which provides very good sound quality and is a little better than “standard-on-the-web” 128 Kbps), you can store 66 hours of music – around 80 full albums!
FireWire
Instead of slow serial, parallel port or USB connection, the iPod uses FireWire (i.Link, IEEE 1394) with transfer rate of 400 Mbps. With this kind of transfer rate, it takes less than a second per song.
Size
The device is quite small for its capacity – it measures 2 ½ x 4 x 4 ¾ inches and incorporates a 2” LCD. The weight is 6 ½ oz.
iTunes2
The software supplied with iPod is called iTunes2 and it allows you to encode MP3 files, rip CDs and get track information from the Internet. You create a list of files you want to be in iPod and then “synchronize” it with iPod, much like the Palm desktop is used with Palm Pilot. Except, you cannot upload songs from the iPod to your Mac, only download is available.
There are 17 settings to adjust the quality of the MP3 encoding. The highest quality is achieved at 320 Kbps and “medium” is 160. In addition to using MP3 format, you can also use uncompressed “.wav” files or Apple’s AIFF.
No PC Software
The iPod can only be used with Mac OS 9.2 or 10.1, since there is no software for PC is available yet. However, there is hope that somebody will release software to allow iPod work with Windows.
Sound Quality
The encoding of iTunes2 is not among the best in terms of the resulting sound quality. Because of this, it is better to use bit rate higher than 128 Kbps - 160 or, better yet, 192. The higher bit rate (or storing uncompressed .wav files) increases power consumption and lowers battery life.
The supplied earbud phones are small and, of course, cannot provide great sound. But they are quite good comparing to other MP3 players and you can get better headphones if you want.
No Skipping
The iPod reads information from its hard drive in chunks and intermediately stores it in its memory, thus consuming less energy and providing shock protection.
LCD And Controls
The iPod is controlled by the dial (with a select button in the middle) surrounded by four buttons. The dial controls the selection bar while viewing a playlist and controls volume while the song is playing.
The LCD also show the battery status and shows a progress bar while the song is playing. You can adjust backlight settings, for example to stay on for several seconds after you touch controls.
Battery
The device uses a non-removable lithium-polymer battery, which is being recharged while the iPod is connected to your Mac’s FireWire port. You can also charge the battery using the supplied AC adaptor.
The battery lasts 5-6 hours (depending on volume and if you use LCD backlight) and charges fully in 4 hours. The battery useful life is said to be only 4 years and since it is non-removable, you might have to replace the device after 4 years.
Bottom Line
If you have a Mac with OS version 9.2 or higher, you might consider the iPod with its huge capacity and long-lasting battery. If you don’t you are out of luck.
Discontinued by manufacturer, replaced by model #M8976LL/A FireWire interface for fastest digital transfer available Download audiobooks from Audible....More at Amazon Marketplace
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