tobelee's Full Review: Apple iPod 1st Generation 5 GB (MAC) MP3 Player
400 dollars for a walkman? I had a hard time gathering the dough for this electronic treat. It was during a television episode of a well known collectors show, that I had a vision. On the episode there was a fine Sea Captains watch. A pioneering device, for it's time. Well made, compact, engraved, and beautiful. What will an iPod fetch in 200 years? Macs are collectable. The Apple Newton PDA, (discontinued) fetches nice prices on ebay. My excuse for the 400 dollar purchase- I am buying a future collectable. Amazon offered me 80 dollars of free CD's with my purchase.
I really liked the box the iPod came with. A Very cool box. It is silver and white, and opens in the middle. I was disappointed that the iPod face is actually white. Typing paper white. Not silver, like I had imagined. The ear buds are mostly white. I found the earbuds more comfortable without the soft covers.
I could not believe how easy it was to transfer music. Automatic. My favorite feature of the iPod is, and will always be the battery power. After 15 minutes of charging via the Firewire port I was set to roll with a charged iPod. Not fully charged, but enough to work for first time experiments. The scroll wheel works great! It actually moves on ball bearings and is silky smooth. It makes nice clicking sounds as you scroll(feature can be turned off). I still haven't figured out where the nice clicking sound comes from. The menu is easy to use. Along with the mystery clicking, there is the mystery of the screen text. It seems to know when to switch from all black letters on a light ground to white letters on black ground depending upon the amount of light indoors or outside. I have a digital camera who's display is unreadable in the sunlight. I can read the iPod display in the bright light. How does it know?
Fully charged, this lithium polymer battery will last ten hours. I have had CD players which go through 4 AA's after just playing two full cd's. Not only is that annoying, but it is expensive. I have tried rechargeable batteries which last 30 minutes after an entire day of recharging. I've had my iPod for a month now and have never had a dead battery. Just a few 15 minute plugs into Firewire port now and then to update your music and you just keep on going. I never used the option method of charging via wall socket. I haven't had to. Amazing Battery!
I have the 5 gb iPod. The 10 gb was available at the time. I think 5 gb is more than enough for my needs. I still haven't filled it up with worthy music. 368 songs and the iPod isn't even half full. Wow. Lots of storage space!
I have dropped the iPod on the concrete from about 4 feet. It works fine. It did get some small nicks on the face plate edges (3mm).
The lovely metal back plate, gets some minor scratching and greasy finger prints. The scratches can be polished out with Brasso. One large con of the iPod is the fact that 400 of your hard earned dollars can easily be stolen. You must keep your eyes on it everywhere. People will want it, because it is a perfect beautiful thing.
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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