2. iPod: Video To Boot?

This fall is a time of renewal for Apple. After the disappearance of the iPod Mini in favor of the Nano, and also of the U2 Special Edition iPod, there is only one hard-disk player left - the iPod. Thinner (only .4" - 11 mm) and lighter (4.8 oz. - 136 g), it now comes in two colors, white or black, and two storage capacities, 30 or 60 GB. But the difference is not only esthetic. The color screen has also been enlarged to 2.5 inches and can display 65,000 colors at a maximum resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. That's big enough to make it comfortable for browsing photos directly on the iPod, with or without a slide show with music. On the other hand, despite the sharpness of the display, it's still too small for the other big new feature of this iPod - video.

As it did for the initial launch of the iPod, Apple is making files - video this time - available for purchase via its iTunes Music Store. European customers are limited to video clips and shorts from Pixar, but lucky Americans can also purchase five TV series (Lost, Desperate Housewives, The Night Stalker, The Suite Life, and That's So Raven) at $1.99 per episode. Certain Podcasts offered for free on iTunes are also available in video, but not all of them can display on the iPod. While in theory any video playable with QuickTime (including .avi files) is accessible on iTunes, the files have to be recompressed and transferred to the iPod - and that has to be done using the pay version, QuickTime Pro! So, lacking a really full catalogue of available video, the new video feature is more a trial balloon to see how the majors will react than a real excuse to buy this iPod.

Still Tempting

So why choose the iPod? Simply because it's the lightest player out there, at 4.8 oz. (136 g) for the 30 GB version and 5.5 oz. (157 g) for 60 GB. Its Clickwheel makes it extremely simple to operate, even if it does take a little practice to learn how to stop it in the right place. Its sound quality, as is true of the rest of the Apple line, is perfect - though some people will miss being able to customize the equalizer beyond the 21 presets.

The earphones supplied by Apple are of good quality, though they do accentuate the bass compared to our reference earphones (Sennheiser MX 500). On the other hand, Apple needs to improve the battery life. At 14 hours with audio and 1 hr. 45 min. with video, the battery life falls seriously short. Also, the rather idiosyncratic ergonomics of iTunes and the fact that you have to install it on your computer are surely not the most practical way of transferring music to your player. But here we're getting into a rather subjective area where there's a lot of debate between those who swear by iTunes's management and those who prefer the copy/paste approach.

The iPod is the handsomest and thinnest personal jukebox, and it has the most faithful sound reproduction. Its handling is quite good. As for file transfer via iTunes, that is more a matter of personal taste. The price is justified given the quality of the finish, the miniaturization and the storage space.