Perfection and Style in a tiny case
Written: Dec 27 '02 (Updated Dec 28 '02)
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Pros: has remarkably simple and chic design without sacrificing the quality
Cons: a little bit heavy, volume control too sensitive, musicmatch
The Bottom Line: If your highest priorities include large capacity, great quality, small size, and sleek appearance - then this is one of the best players out there for the price.
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| only's Full Review: Apple iPod 2nd Generation 10 GB (PC) MP3 Player |
This made my holiday a little happier. For Christmas, I received the cute little Apple iPod. Even though I'm not a Mac person, this stylish and powerful mp3 player won my heart.
ON THE OUTSIDE
It was like love at first sight. Smooth, sleek, geometrical, on the edge of perfection. The back is a metal casing and the front is cased with what appears to be plexi-glass (?) While it screams out style, it's insured with durability. The design is very simplistic, but everything you need is right there (buttons, touchpad, screen, sockets) I am quite impressed at how well the designers were able to synthesize functionality with the appearance. Allowing it to be very fitting for the youth or the professional.
INSTALLING
Everything is automatic after you run the cd. XP automatically detects the iPod afterwards. There's actually two parts to it - first you have to install the actual device, and secondly you have to install MusicMatch player. Personally, I was a little uncomfortable with using MusicMatch - I'm pretty much a diehard winamp fan, and I've used MusicMatch in the past and it didn't meet my expectations. However, it seemed like the only option at the time of initial usage. (If there are alternative ways to transfer the songs, can someone tell me?) My opinion is that it would be much easier if iPod worked with Windows explorer as a drag and drop deal or as a plug-in with Winamp or Windows Media Player.
CATEGORIZING
The iPod automatically categorizes songs by artist, album, genre, composer, or song. It does this by reading the mp3's ID tag (editable). It is somewhat of a pain to go through all of the IDs and make sure everything is in order (some songs may come with preset IDs while others don't have one set or an incorrectly labeled one). Even though it's well worth the effort afterwards to see all of your songs neatly organized in your iPod, don't get the impression that it does it by itself.
PLAYING
Playing a song is as easy as pushing a button. Selecting a song is done through browsing playlists or the different categories listed above. The circular touchpad allows easy scrolling through the songs. Even though it's a little different than the norm, making your thumb (or whatever) move in a circular motion is easy to get use to. There are buttons around the circular touchpad for forward/next, rewind/back, play/pause and menu. There isn't a direct control for stop, which is nice because you can never accidentally stop a song. The iPod is able to switch songs very quickly, for its capacity (I am comparing it to the Creative Labs Jukebox II). The current song is shown on the display screen, along with the artist, album, and the remaining time. You are also able to go to the menu or edit other settings without stopping the song. Volume is controlled by the scroll wheel. It's very sensitive to touch so often I'd accidentally scroll it when I don't want to and have the song blast into my ear. That could be useful during times and annoying at others. That's when I take advantage of the hold button, so I can't accidentally make myself deaf. It doesn't interfere with the control of the iPod remote though.
ACCESSORIES
The earphones are cute and the sound has incredibly high quality. However, the little covers for them are annoying and easily fall off. I resoluted to just not using them anymore. The iPod remote is handy when I don't feel like putting the player in my pocket while still being able to quickly choose songs. I especially love how the remote has a little clip on the back which can be attached to a collar or sleeve or a crease fold in my pants. My only complaint is that the cords are a little bit long and I have no idea where to stash them (they also tangle up really easily).
EXTRA
If you're considering the 20gig, first check how rational you're being. Do you really need space for 4,000 songs? I barely have 1,000 on my computer and I don't even listen to all of them. I think that the 10gig is enough.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 400
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Epinions.com ID:
only
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
carnegie mellon university business administration student
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