Apple iPod 5GB Review

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4.4 stars
Average rating for this product is: 4.4 out of 5

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mlsw1.'s Review of Apple iPod 5GB

13th Mar 2002

Overall Rating

3 stars
  • Value for money
    2.5 stars
  • Sound Quality
    3 stars
Good Points

Capacity, size, styling.


Bad Points

Poor software quality, earbuds too big.


General Comments

Where the Apple iPod portable MP3 player wins is storage density, other multi-GB players are considerably larger.
But compared to a portable audio products from, say, Sony, Sharp etc., Apple's inexperience shows. The user interface is so-so rather than great. In my opinion, they have paid more attention to form than function.
Whilst 'navigation' to tracks is efficient, operation is another matter, fast fwd/rev are far too slow, you cannot 'reverse into' a track, iPod loses it's place easily, no tone controls (some say they should not be necessary, but at low volumes the ear becomes less sensitive to low frequencies, so a way to boost them is necessary for quiet listening).
Sound quality is comparable to md/cassette, i.e. fine, although there is a design fault causing an audible 'whine', but this is only noticeable in quiet passages.
The earbuds are just tooooo big, no other manufacturer produces them this size, why did Apple? buy better ones.
There is a serious bug with buffer management on tracks above a certain size, this results in only 20-30% of claimed battery life and causes the unit to become so hot it can be almost painful to hold. This fault is not an issue for users playing short tracks, but for continuous mix, classical, audio books etc. it is a serious limitation and again highlights Apple's inexperience in this type of product.

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Members' Comments onmlsw1.'s Review

  • mlsw1. on 30th Mar 2002

    apple have now (3/2002) released version 1.1 software,

    this resolves the most of the problems with ipod: buffer problem, whine, lack of adequate fast fwd/rev, choice of eq settings.

    the new version significantly improves ipod, i'd say it now lives up to apple's original claims.

    some minor quibbles remain, but compared to the competition ipod is now ahead on overall features/size/quality