Cons: musicmatch box and windows XP may not be a good match for the ipod yet
The Bottom Line: Before you buy, I would certainly get some guarantees from the store about being able to return it without an open box restocking fee.
slc7's Full Review: Apple iPod 3rd Generation White (30 GB) MP3 Player
When the PC version of Ipod was introduced, I eyed it with quite a bit of skepticism. It just didn't seem possible that a Mac product could successful bridge the gap into the PC world; rather like species jumping the gene pool. Despite my doubts, I researched it, and found that most PC users (who bothered to review it) had rather favorable experiences, so I made the leap. I bought the 30g with anticipation of keeping my music, books, calender, and contacts all in one handy place. Unfortunately, these hopes was short lived.
My first difficulty came in simply installing the software. Now, I am no computer expert, but I am pretty good around them and having been using them for a long time, and not afraid to "look under the hood" I know what I am doing, and know when to ask for help. I am running XP Home on a year old computer (HP780n). The darn software WOULD NOT INSTALL. I kept getting error message #1607 regarding the installsheild. Evidently, I am not the first to experience this, as apple.com had a several instruction pages regarding the difficulty. After downloading patches, firmware and more current software from the installshield site, and tweaking with my settings, it finally worked and installed. That took a good bit of time.
The next issue I had was with muscimatch box. Now everyone knows this is not the greatest piece of software out there, but Apple chose it for the PC interface regardless. And yes, there were and are difficulties. What they don't tell you during installation; even if you are running the most current version of musicmatch box, (which is currently 8.0), you must still install the version they pack with the ipod. And even when the window pops up telling you your version is newer (and one would assume better)and do you really want to install over it, (one would assume 'no'), the answer is 'yes, you do". It would have been nice if this had been included in the manual or instruction sheet! So if you don't get anything else from this review, remember that. This is a special 'apple' version.
OK--I got that worked through....finally, through trial and error. (Isn't that always the way) I merrily went on my way of downloading 10g of music. It took a long time-several hours. I expected a much faster transfer. Everything finished nicely, and I properly ejected the device, all by the book and the darn thing froze with the big check on the screen, indicating it was ok to disconnect. The ipod didn't respond to anything--not a reset, not a restore, nothing, and it was still shining that wonderful checkmark as I packed it into it's box and returned it. It's screen is probably still glowing.....
I decided to just stick with the Archos--it wasn't as cool looking and couldn't play audible.com books, but it works. The store manager (CompUSA) listened to my difficulties, and convinced me to try the ipod again; a new one. The 'Ipod" expert was going to be in the store the following day, and if I continued to have difficulties, he would be able to fix it. (Insinuating I was a fault, do you think???) I agreed,with conditions--if this one didn't work, I wanted to be able to return it hassle free, and get an Archos at a discounted price. He agreed--sure he had a safe bet. So home I went, ipod in hand. Got it installed, and running, transferred files (still took forever), excited....this is really working. Went to disconnect......frozen again.....and it stayed that way all night, and into the morning. I took it into Mr Ipod, who looked at it, smirked and said, "I can fix this" "Great" I replied, "Go to it" Forty five minutes later, he wasn't smirking any more, and I was buying my discounted Archos.
Two lemons in a row.....maybe or perhaps the ipod just isn't ready for windows.
One last thought--if you are using this on a laptop or desktop that only has a 4 pin firewire connection, I would think the ipod would be a real pain. You can not simultaneously charge it and have it connected and working with your computer. It uses the same connection for both functions, so you have to first charge it, then use it (download or to play music), then charge it again during your activity if you 'run out of juice". I didn't have to worry about this, but my daughter's laptop would have presented this problem, and it just seemed like a real pain to deal with.
Two lemons in a row.....maybe or perhaps the ipod just isn't ready for windows.
Follow up: May, 2004. Against my advice, my son bought a 15g ipod, 3 generation. He has installed itunes and has had absolutely no problem with it, except for the battery life (which is a common complaint). In light of this, I would have to say there must have been a problem with the 30g, and that it has been fixed in the 3 generation 15g ipod. So, go for it....I am even considering it for myself!!
30 GB model holds up to 7,500 songs; supports AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF, Apple Lossless and WAV Holds 25,000 ...More at Amazon Marketplace
Special Edition U2 iPod holds 7500 songs, many hours of video, thousands of photos, and more on 30 GB of storage Encore U2 edition features distinctiv...More at Amazon Marketplace
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