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“I finally bought one of the Apple iPod Video in the...”

written by Iain Macrae on 21/04/2006

Good Points
A cracking design, light weigt without floating away, excellent sound, good screen, easy to use.

Bad Points
It doesn't come with much, accessories are expensive, captive market(it costs the same wherever you look), itunes software

General Comments
I finally bought one of the Apple iPod Video in the hope of being able to carry around more than just a few CD's, and with the 30 Gig version I think I made a good choice. Over 1500 tracks on it so far and it's only at about 5 gig full.



The design, like most Apple stuff, is cool. The black version reflects light with a beautiful glint and the controls are simple yet so powerfull. They consist of one switch (Hold) which lock out inadvertent touches of the main front pad. This consists at first sight of five buttons, one central and four in a circle around the outer circle. A basic menu button allows you to move back up to the menu above your last choice. The centre button allows you to select in a sort of left mouse click style. Then the other three buttons allow your to fast forward, reverse or pause/play. Most also double up by say turning the unit off, or toggling the screen light. Finally, and most techie of all the outer ring of controls detects your finger running over it (either clock or anti-clockwise) and adjusts volume, track time, or menu positon amongst others as you move your finger. A real icon of design.



The sound is clear and if I have had any problems it been with the quality of the import form CD (yes it's worth using the error checking method that takes a little longer).



The screen is crisp and clear, and one of the larges in this miniture market (come on it's never gonna be a Block Buster cinima competitor). Colour is good and the only lacking here would be battery life. 14 hours playing music is not bad...though I'm not sure I've stretched it that far yet. But with video and the screen back light constantly on the battery life shortens considerbly. You can of course use it plugged in, but that option will cost you (accessories are not cheap), and if you want to charge it from your PC its easy enough, but this will start i-tunes and haltyour playback (though I'm sure theres a setting for this I haven't found yet).



There are a few other apps you get besides a good music machine. You can synch your PC calender and contacts list. But seeing as you can't edit them on the i-pod I suggest you use your mobile phone for these functions. Aplle could have missed these off and put in a few more bells and whistles on the music front. There are games too, simple but fun, one being a music quiz - sort of name that tune from your music collect, neat and pretty addictive. There's a clock thats tricky to set (orfcourse I should have read the manual first!) and a screen lock to keep thieves at bay (not sure how truely thief proof it will prove though).



Down sides? Well it is expensive, though in the week I bought mine I noticed the black version drop from £215 to £189. So perhaps there's some good news soon on price. Having said that it comptetes well with similar models by others.

But it doesn't come with much. Software (itunes) which you invariably have to update as soon as you have installed it, is not better or worse than other PC media players, though it is hellishly difficut to copy music for one PC to another, or from Ipod to PC.

Other than that you get earphones and a synch lead. No charger (you have to do that on your PC or buy on at £20 approx), no hard case, which given the screen and smart looks should be a must.



In summary, get one. No problems yet, helpful Apple staff (they all seem to be enthusiasts) and one of the true iconic and great designs of the century. Music is now truly portable, if only car stereos would catch up) and the home stereo will change radically to make the most of this.