I was not planning on buying a 4G iPod, but I got one. I had the original
first generation 5GB iPod when it launched and loved the thing, except for the fact that I could not build playlists while I was on the road. I got a 3G iPod 15GB when it came out and loved it. But, recently my music collection had ballooned to over 17GB and I was tired of shuffling songs onto and off the iPod via playlists. So, I sold it off on eBay and used the proceeds to pick up my new iPod 40GB.
What's New? When the fourth generation iPods were originally released a few months ago, I was not impressed by them. Mainly because there did not seem to be a substantial amount of improvement made to warrant an upgrade. I was planning on sticking with my 15GB until the fifth generation of iPods and upgrading at that point. But, when Apple released the iPod Photo, I knew the wait for the fifth generation would be a bit away. So, I got the fourth generation iPod for the capacity only.
What I found out after doing some research post-buying the iPod 40GB was that the fourth generation is a whole lot of changes. The most visible change is the Click Wheel which has moved over from the iPod mini. The big changes though were underneath the shiny white surface of the iPod. The whole iPod has been worked over and redesigned internally. The main chips have been changed for more efficient and energy efficient chips from PortalPlayer. The sound chips? Changed. The software got a big upgrade also. So, between the upgraded chips and the software, the new fourth generation iPods get 12 hours of playtime instead of 8 hours. The fourth generation iPods also allow for multiple On-The-Go playlists, a welcome feature. But, even more on top of my On-The-Go playlist is the ability to delete a song from a playlist.
Click Wheel I loved the third generation iPod because it had no external mechanical stuff. Everything was touch. This was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because with no mechanical stuff, there is nothing to break from years of clicking. A curse because the touch sensitive was very finicky -- mostly because it was too touch sensitive. Since I started iPodding with the original iPod, the move of the buttons from the wheel to the four buttons on top was a bit of getting used to.
With the Click Wheel though, Apple has reintroduced mechanical stuff back into the iPod, which is not as great as touch only. The menu, play, forward and back buttons now lie beneath the touch sensitive scroll wheel. You push directly on the scroll wheel to activate these buttons. By moving these buttons back to a position that approximates where they were in the first and second generations, Apple has made the control scheme much better than the third generation iPods. Also since I used the original iPod, moving to the Click Wheel was not a big deal since the controls almost mimic the arced controls of the first and second generation iPod. The Click Wheel is not as sensitive as the third generation (good thing). The select button and click buttons (menu, play, forward, and back) give a nice tactile click when pushed, which precludes me from quietly listening to music in bed at night.
If you miss the clicking noise of the wheel as it is spun, there are three options for you. Send the clicking noise to the internal clicker of the iPod. Send the clicking noise to the headphones. Or send the noise to both. I wouldn't recommend sending the noise to the headphones since it interrupts the music -- so browsing music while you are listening to music is very distracting.
Give Me Sound Since the iPod is all about music, its sound better be good. Just like all the previous iPods the sound of the fourth generation iPod is fantastic. It is a very natural and flat sound. It is not bass or treble heavy, but just natural and flat. Some may not like this and may prefer the more bass-heavy party-style sound. For those people there is the EQ adjustment which will get them the right sound -- though the sound settings are all presets, you cannot setup your own custom EQ adjustment. Keep in mind that if you use the EQ adjustments you put a heavier load on the DSP inside the iPod and you will get less battery life.
I listen to mainly rock, symphonies, and movie soundtracks on my iPod and they all sound great. The one thing you'll want to do is dump those white earphones that come with the iPod, do it right away. Yes, they are a status symbol letting everyone know that you are with iPod and cool. But they sound terrible. If you're going to spend $399 for a 40GB iPod, you must be serious about listening to music and to listen to music with those white earphones is an injustice -- unless you like dumping $399 for a status symbol. I would suggest you get the recently released in the US Sony Fontopia MDR-EX71SL/WK earbuds. They are white earbuds from Sony which are more comfortable than the Apple earphones. And most importantly these things sound great. I have both a pair of the white ones and the black ones. I love them both (the white ones are short cord with extension and the black ones are the long cord ones). But the best advice I can give you when you get your iPod is to not use those white earphones that Apple provides. They do the iPod no audio justice.
Let Me Use It The most stunning part about the iPod for me is the user interface (UI). I can find a song that I want to hear with no effort at all. The competitors have tried, but they have yet to come up with a UI as intuitive and usable as the iPods. If you aren't already familiar with how it works, let me just tell you about it.
The iPods interface is a hierarchical interface. The first menu you get lists Music, Extras, Settings, Shuffle Songs and Backlight. That's it. From these menus, using the Click Wheel, you can access everything on the iPod. You just scroll to the menu and click the select button. The next set of menus will show up. It is that easy. Music is listed by Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, Genres, Composers, and Audiobooks. You select any one of these and you have instant access to your music. It is very hard to explain how easy the interface is to use, but when my wife, mom and sister pick up the iPod and are using it immediately...that shows just how easy it is.
When compared to the cheaper
Creative Labs Zen Xtra, the brilliance of the iPod UI is very clear.
There's More? Yes, there is more to the iPod than just music. I still carry my Palm Zire 31 with me for PDA stuff, but the iPod makes for a good reference when I don't have my Palm with me -- days when I don't go to work or what not. I can use iSync or Pod2Go to get my calendars and contacts onto the iPod for reference only (you cannot add stuff from the iPod). This makes it very convenient.
If you have more than one device syncing with iSync (I have my
Sony T610 and Palm Zire 31) then I would recommend a shareware program named Pod2Go. Since the iPod is reference only, Pod2Go can just copy the calendars and contacts files from your Mac to the iPod without having to go through the long synchronization process, this makes it very easy to take information with me. With Pod2Go I am also able to take RSS feeds (like Wired, Gizmodo, and stuff) with me. It lets me sync up weather, news, and my Stickies to go -- all as Notes in the Extras part of the iPod. This is very useful!
I think this may sound like an infomercial, but that's not it! The iPod also can be mounted as a harddrive on your desktop (go into iTunes, click the iPod preferences, and select Enable Disk Use). Personally, I don't use my iPod as a disk because I already have external Firewire drives. But, if you are in need of extra external storage for bring files with you, then the iPod can do that for you also. Peter Jackson, the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, used iPods to transport dailies! That's how useful the iPod is for file transport.
Is that it? No. You can also play games on the iPod. There are four that are included: Solitaire (my favorite), Brick, Music Quiz and Parachute. Music Quiz is my least favorite because I have so much music and sometimes it is hard for me to guess what a piece of music is. But, it also consumes a lot of battery power since it pulls up music quite frequently and spins the harddrive constantly. Brick is just breakout and is pretty fun, the Click Wheel makes for playing the game very intuitive. Parachute is fun also, it is the classic game where you shoot soldiers parachuting into a battlefield. Again, great use for the Click Wheel for the game.
Management The simplicity of the iPod is not just on the iPod itself, but it is also with the iTunes software. iTunes lets me manage all 4,000 of my songs with ease. I can create playlists without breaking a sweat. And if there is new music that I want, I can just log into the iTunes Music Store and pick up that song or CD. The integration between iTunes and iPod is so strong and easy that it is the selling point of the iPod. No other harddrive player out there has this strong of relationship.
What's In The Box In the box of the 40GB iPod is the iPod, cables (USB and Firewire), CD with software, Dock, charging brick, earphones and documentation. The box is like all other iPod boxes: Origami. It is very cool opening an iPod box, you'll never open another companies product quite like this.
What I found missing in the box is the Apple iPod Carrying Case which used to be included in high-end iPods, but not anymore. This is probably because no one uses them since there are so many other cases out there. But, I for one like the Apple iPod Carrying Case, it is like all other Apple products: Simple, beautiful and functional. I wish it was included in the box.
Conclusion Should you get an iPod? Most definitely. The 40GB is the largest of the white iPods. There is also a 60GB iPod Photo, but it costs some $200 more. 40GB will serve me just fine for a long time to come. I have 18.5GB left on my iPod and most of my CD collection has been digitized (hundreds of discs). If you want to save some money, you can go with the 20GB iPod. It is a bit thinner than the 40GB because it uses a single platter harddrive (rather than the dual platter harddrive used in the 40GB). But, I think 40GB is the place to be nowadays, it gives enough room for anyone to grow as we get more music into our collections. With the strong software and hardware link, the easy to use UI (both software and hardware), great aesthetics, extra functionality, and wonderful sound the iPod is something that no other company has come closed to. This is the Walkman of the 21st century, there is no other like the iPod -- and there is no reason to buy any other than the iPod. The only choice you have is capacity (and if you're going mini, color).
