So I bought an ipod…

Apple’s video ipod is the second portable media player I’ve owned, the first one being a Neuros. Since I’ve had it for a couple weeks now, I think its time to write about my thoughts on the device. For the most part my comments will be in contrast to my experience with my Neuros…

I paid $270 + tax for my video ipod as I got a $30 discount for being a teacher. Note for the interested; Apple’s process for verifying education status is nearly non-existant. All they ask is for an address/zipcode to match the school you claim to be a part of, to what is in their database. Here’s what you get for $300: an ipod, a usb cable and a flimsy little pouch. I suspect you wouldn’t have even gotten that little pouch if it wasn’t for the scratch problems the new generation of ipods have been experiencing (class action lawsuit in process as we speak). The pouch is a token gesture, and isn’t enough to keep the device free from scratches - heck the pouch itself creates small abrasions on the surface. Of course, the black ipod does make scratches easier to see in comparison to the white model.

The ipod both charges and synchronizes off of the usb cable. This could be seen as a handy double feature, but consider that your computer must be on for the charging to occur. This issue is quite annoying as my most common mode of operation is to listen to my player during the day and then charge it while I’m asleep (when my computer is usually off). In comparison, my old Neuros came with a wall charger and a car charger. I’ll have to spend another $50 to get the same flexibility in charging if we buy from Apple. Thankfully, you can just spend a handful of dollars for a wall powered USB hub and use that to charge your ipod when your computer is off.

The ipod also doesn’t come with any sort of FM radio support, have a built in mic or have a line-in as my Neuros does. All three can be achieved via 3rd party devices for, of course, more money. The biggest loss is FM, as I use this mostly in my Saturn, which is ancient and has a stock stereo (it has had its aftermarket stereo stolen twice now). I also use this feature in my classrooms where I often have access to a boombox of some sort. In addition to the $50 FM transmitter, I would have to pay another $20 for an audio/video-out cable, but I have found that my camcorder A/V cable works. This is a bonus as now I can plug the ipod into my Auxiliary DVD input in my mini-van.

Being able to display video is a nice new-tech bonus. I think you need to have a very particular lifestyle, like sitting on a bus for a daily commute, to get any consistent benefit from the video side since it requires you to pay attention to the screen. Battery usage is premium, so if you watch a TV episode while on the bus, expect to need some charging to make it through the day if you listen while working etc.. Where I use video playback is when I want to show friends crazy movie clips (Ebaumsworld - Not work safe), a few classic music videos or gameplay clips from upcoming xbox/pc games. The 60GB ipod does seem to be more geared towards video display (more hard drive space and a bigger battery) but it is physically larger than the 30GB version and costs $100 more.

Its obvious that video is a secondary (or incomplete) feature for the ipod (even though its probably a primary marketing point). It takes some learning to get videos on the device, the ability to categorize the videos is limited once they are on there and there are a number of firmware (operating system) bugs in relation to videos. For example, after playing a video you may not be able to turn off the device (by pushing play). It also assumes all videos categorized as music videos have the song itself attached to the video (so you can play the song without the video). If you get your music videos from any other source than iTunes you’ll get audio garbage when the ipod tries to play the song by itself rather than with the video. Although you can tell the ipod to skip the video when it is song “shuffle” mode, if you do so then iTunes wont synchronize any changes to that video after you turn that feature on. Videos are also lumped into your “library” in iTunes even though there is a separate Video section. You can drag videos into the Library, but you can’t drag them into the Video section (now that makes sense right?). Even though you may have videos that are TV show episodes, unless you bought those episodes from iTunes you can’t categorize those videos as TV shows. Rather, you’ll have to make separate playlists or scroll through the whole video list to find what you want to play.

One feature I do like alot, which predates video by one generation for ipods, is the ability to display album art. Although there are free programs out there to scan the web for album art (mostly from Amazon.com), I purchased a shareware program called iArt that does album art (with tag correction for missing album tags) and song lyrics. The nice additional feature of iArt is that it connects with iTunes (music synching software for ipod) and your songs will automatically update to your ipod if you make changes to them. Otherwise, if you use a different art/lyrics program, you’ll have to manually remove and re-copy over the songs you updated, which can be a serious pain when you have thousands of songs.

The clickwheel the ipod uses is quite the innovation (and unique to the ipod). It has its ups and downs though. For example, although it is easy to scan through alot of songs it can be a real pain to make that final selection as the scroll wheel is so sensitive. In comparison, my Neuros uses a stick to go through songs and even though it isn’t as quick of a navigator, one can make easier discreet adjustments to select that final song. Also, the stick and three navigation buttons (FW, RW, Play/Pause) on my neuros does not take up any more room than the click wheel yet it gives me two more buttons.

The only way to bring up a “context” menu (right-click type menu) for the ipod is to double click the central button. Although this does work well enough, the context menu leaves alot to be desired for the information it provides. You can navigate through the song (fast forward/backward), see the rating you’ve given the song, see album art or song lyrics. What the context menu lacks is additional display of song tag information (encoding method/bitrate, comments, composer, genre, whatever) and system options such as the equalizer. For example, with the Neuros it is possible to do what is essentially a “right click” when playing any song and get a submenu of options. To get access to the equalizer on an ipod you need to jump from the “now playing” screen to the main menu and then drill down into the settings menu. In comparison, on the Neuros you just “right click” on the song and choose equalizer. Although the ipod’s equalizer is better (more bands) it isn’t customizable like the Neuros.

Music file support is average at best with support for AAC and MP3 files. This means if you have songs in the windows WMA or the open source OGG format you’ll have to convert them (Neuros supports MP3, WMA and OGG but does not support copy protection on those formats). Personally, I keep all of my music in non-copy protected MP3 format. It is the most widely supported audio format out there and I am guaranteed that my music will work on any player and any computer whenever I need it.

With the complexity of video encoding, it is no surprise that you’ll be re-encoding (or transcoding) most videos you want to put on the ipod (into mpeg4 or h.264 format). Video conversion will be the biggest pain for most users (unless you buy every video from Apple iTunes). There are a number of converters out there that have a variety of success and failure stories. The best I have seen is Nero “ReCode” which is a part of their Nero Digital package when you get the Ultimate version of Nero DVD burning software. The free transcoders out there (Videoera, PSPExpress, etc.) do a decent job but they dont support every format nor have the editing options of Nero.

Next we have the syncrhonization software, iTunes. If anything, iTunes does one thing very well, it integrates the whole media purchase and categorization process. There are other free and shareware type programs you can use to get music onto your ipod (with a variety of features) but in any case you will always be balancing the media synchronization features versus the online shopping options provided by iTunes. I think iTunes balances both of these features well for most users. Other than that, you can find better media managers like MediaMonkey (heck even Windows Media Player does a better job in my opinion) and more consumer friendly shopping experiences. Napster offers higher bitrate songs, has better song browsing with Billboard quarterly charts (back to the 1960’s), user download charts and better genre browsing. Emusic gives a better outlet for independant music and the purchased songs are free of copy management. AllofMP3 has the cheapest music (you pay based on the amount of data downloaded not the number of songs), no copy restrictions and a massive number of format options (although artist compensation is zero or next to zero since it is in Russia).

My final thoughts on the ipod are that I like the size and form of the device, but I sometimes wince at the “form over function” decisions Apple made in designing it. If you look on any ipod forums (like those at ilounge.com) you’ll see nearly 2/3 of all comments are asking what color is best to buy, or about scratches on the ipod, how to remove said scratches or how to get the device exchanged for a new one after scratches have occured. Its form over function on a device that is thought of more as a fashion accessory than a digital media player.