Re: My Review of 30GB iPod

Couple of questions answered:

1. Adam Bovill is right, it does measure capacitance change for the
touch sensitive controls. I wadded up a shirt and couldn't engage the
buttons while not using my fingers. Nifty.

2. One standard power adapter DOES ship with the new iPod. Sorry, forgot
to mention that in what's included. No difference in generations - my
20GB power adapter works with my 30GB.

3. To clarify, they ship ONE custom firewire/power cable with the iPod.
I would have liked to see two: one to leave plugged into the dock and
one to take with me on the road when I need to charge. Previously I used
a heavier duty firewire cable with my desktop for both data transfer and
charging and left the iPod charger and Apple firewire cord in my laptop
bag for traveling.

4. I've gotten used to the button setup, though I agree that from an
aesthetic standpoint, the 4 button around the scrollwheel setup is
nicer. I am absolutely certain the iPod team thought this too, but were
ultimately unable to implement the touch pad and backlight with the old
configuration.

5. Battery life. I probably got about 5 hours of use yesterday before I
plugged it back in. I'm slightly concerned that the battery indicator
was telling me "one bar," then zero bars, then one again. Echoes of
previous firmware problems.


rich


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Eduardo Delgado
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 4:39 PM
To: EphPod list server
Subject: [ephpod] Re: My Review of 30GB iPod


Sorry, long post.

>The buttons will take some getting used to, placement-wise. I don't
>really know why the got rid of the 4-button surrounding the scroll
wheel
>setup, but I think it has to do with these new backlit buttons. Perhaps
>they couldn't get the backlighting in the previous setup.

My guess is that it has more to do with they being touch pad, but who 
knows. Ugly anyways, I like them around the wheel. Very useful. Very
well 
thought. So, Apple, one point less here.

>Speaking of the buttons, and the scrollwheel, they are all touch
>sensitive. They will also take some getting used to. The buttons don't
>move when you touch them, they just respond to whatever command - 
play,
>pause, menu, etc.

My question is, are they too sensitive? Right now, I don't have to lock
my 
iPod while I carry it inside my jacket or shirt pocket. I can snip a
finger and 
skip songs or change the volume. I wonder if a new iPod would get false 
presses just by cloth contact/pressure.

>The dock is great. It's rubberized on the bottom so it doesn't slip
>around. I think its mildly annoying that they didn't ship an extra
cable
>out with the thing so you can charge it.

I thought they did. Another point less.  :-(

>Right now if I need to plug it
>into a/c power when I go on the road I need to reach around to the back
>of the computer to remove the cable since it's no longer a standard
>firewire cable.

OMG. An extra annoyance. Lame.

So the dock has a male custom plug for the iPod and a female custom 
plug for the cable. Why can't it come with firewire & USB connectors
(and 
include it with the 10Gb iPods)? I prefer this idea over a custom cable.

I _hate_ this custom cable idea. Before USB, each portable MP3 player 
out there had its own custom interface, and that was a shit. I liked the
fact 
that the iPod used a standard firewire cable (plus, you could use it to 
charge the thing. Clever). Right now, I have a cable at home and another

one at work, so I only have to carry the iPod and the earphones. I can 
charge and transfer songs on both places. With the "new" approach, you 
either have to carry the cable with you (and reach to the back of your
PC), 
or purchase an extra custom cable, at Apple prices. Plus shipping, I
don't 
see a lot of iPod accesories available here in Spain. A 3+ years step 
backwards. Five points less on this.

And be ready to purchase another cable if you pretend to use USB. But 
not a standard one.

>With the new iPod
>desktop manager software, you can unmount the ipod and use it 
regularly
>without having to remove it from the firewire cable.

That's the 2.0 firmware, not the PC software. Well, probably the desktop

manager lets you unmount the iPod, but it's the firmware the one which 
doesn't lock the UI on the "OK to disconnect".

>In the box: iPod, headphones w/slipcovers, software/documentation, 
soft
>case, dock, 4-pin to 6-pin firewire cable adapter, redesigned
>firewire/iPod power/data cable (1394 to proprietary apple design - 3rd
>party engineers, please make an adapter), plastic covers for data/power
>port.

And power adapter, right? Is it the same model than before?

>If you all have any questions that I haven't answered here, I'll be
>happy to answer them if posed to the group.

What about battery life? I noticed the Apple specs state 8 hours playing

time. I thought that, after past battery issues, they simply were being
more 
realistic. But I read in ipoding that in order to make the new iPods
thinner, 
they used a smaller battery model. Sheesh. Yet they say "Battery life
varies 
by use". Well, based on my usage experience, I think I would be getting 
around 4-6 hours out of that (assuming they won't be screwing it up on a

later firmware release). Point less.

The new iPods have some good things (thinner, lighter, upto 30Gb, lower 
prices, OTG playlists) but serveral steps backwards (buttons away from
the 
wheel, custom cable, shorter battery life). Well, you can't have it all.

And that without saying that 1.3 is the last firmware released ever for
"old" 
models. Less than one and a half year old, and my 5Gb is a shiny piece
of 
computing history. Should I put it on the self, next to my ZX Spectrum? 
Sigh.

Antique, but iPod!

Eduardo Delgado
[email protected]



------------------------------------------------------
ephPod Mailing List 
FAQ and HomePage http://www.ephpod.com 
mailto:[email protected] to susbcribe 
mailto:[email protected] to unsusbcribe 
mailto:[email protected] the mailing-list itself 







------------------------------------------------------
ephPod Mailing List 
FAQ and HomePage http://www.ephpod.com 
mailto:[email protected] to susbcribe 
mailto:[email protected] to unsusbcribe 
mailto:[email protected] the mailing-list itself