Review: Apple iPod MP3 Player

Product: iPod
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Price: $399.99
Review by: Marc Zeedar
iPod Cases Available at the Applelinks Store

During some TV surfing this past weekend, I happened upon an architectural show in which the home-owner was proudly demonstrating his massive CD jukebox (retro-designed like an old record jukebox and about the same size).

"It holds over a thousand songs!" he said, petting it affectionately.

I laughed out loud. In my hand I held my brand-new Apple iPod. It also holds 1,000 songs -- but it only weighs 6.5 ounces and runs a full day on rechargeable batteries. The contrast was hilarious.

By now you've no doubt seen the iPod's specifications:

 
• Slightly bigger than a business card, it holds over 1,000 songs using a tiny 5GB 1.8" hard drive
• Its built-in rechargeable battery lasts 10+ hours on a single charge
• The scroll wheel interface and relatively large LCD screen makes finding and playing songs simple
• It connects to your Mac via Firewire, so not only are song downloads quick and painless, but the unit can act as a regular Firewire hard drive as well
• You easily manage your music on your Mac with iTunes
• You can charge it over Firewire, eliminating the need for an AC adapter

But the real test of any product is in real-world usage, not specifications. Does the iPod live up to its hype?

Unquestionably! It's delightfully small and simple. It only does one thing -- play music -- but it does that so well, you'll wonder why no one invented it years ago.

First, let's just say the sound quality is excellent. I may not be an audiophile -- after all, I listen to compressed music -- but the sound that emerges from the iPod is noticeably better than that played by my Titanium PowerBook. In fact, using the iPod's included ear-bud headphones, I was able to discern a difference between an MP3 recorded at 160kbs and at 128kbs (something I've never been able to do with other music players). Of course the quality you hear is totally dependent upon the quality of your speakers -- the better the speakers, the better the sound.

Second, form follows function in the case of the iPod: the interface and design really do mean that it's easy to use. This is a music player that will appeal to people love music, not just people into computer gadgets. I can imagine more than a few music lovers will be picking up an iBook/iPod bundle just for the iPod.

For instance, to synchronize your iPod with iTunes on your Mac, all you have to do is connect the two: even my mom could do it! Connecting an iPod automatically launches iTunes 2.0 (if installed -- otherwise the iPod mounts to the desktop as a hard drive and includes the iTunes installers for Mac OS and Mac OS X). iTunes immediately begins syncing to the iPod, updating the music player if you've made changes to your playlists or music in iTunes, or downloading all your songs if this is your first connection. A warning on screen tells you not to disconnect the iPod while iTunes is downloading, and you can easily see how many songs have been downloaded and how much space is left on the iPod.

The interface of the iPod has been widely praised for good reason. The scroll wheel is slick. It's remarkably easy to spin it around and shoot through a list of hundreds of songs: with 476 songs on my iPod, I'm able to scroll from A to Z in less than five seconds!

But it's not just the hardware wheel that makes the difference -- Apple designed the way you work with songs to be easy as well. For instance, when a song is playing, moving the scroll wheel increases or decreases the sound volume. That's handy, since MP3s ripped from various sources are notorious for having different volume levels. It's also great for instantly turning down the volume when you get a phone call or other distraction, or raising it when a favorite song is playing.

Of course the most brilliant aspect of iPod is that it works arm-and-arm with iTunes. Anything you do in iTunes is replicated on your iPod the next time you sync. Rip a new CD, create or modify a playlist, or remove some songs from your library and those changes happen to your iPod. While makers of other hard drive-based music players have tried to kludge together a way to make playlists on the device's tiny LCD display, Apple didn't bother: you modify playlists in iTunes and those playlists show up on your iPod.

Playlists are cool: create an instrumental list for non-vocal songs, for instance, and you can tell iPod to just play songs within that playlist (at random or in order).

Another thoughtful touch is the way iPod continues to play the current song while you're using the interface. You can be browsing your song library by playlist, artist (divided by individual album), or all songs, and iPod continues to play. That combination was the clincher in my purchase decision. (My other MP3 player, a CD-based model that plays MP3 CDs, only displays numbers for songs, making it impossible to browse through looking for a particular song that fits your current mood.) I also love that you can play all the songs by a particular artist (multiple albums), or limit play to a specific album.

Few people have written about the iPod's display, but it's full of subtle details that you only notice when you need them. For instance, the backlight is very bright: in the dark it's practically a flashlight! (If you've used the so-dim-it's-useless backlighting on Palm PDAs, you'll appreciate this feature.)

But Apple also includes lots of information on the display. While a song is playing, the title animates; underneath it is a static artist name and album title. A bar graph shows you the current place in the song (pressing the round enter button toggles the time display between time played and time remaining). A couple tiny icons indicate the current playing mode (shuffle, repeat play, etc.), and there's also a line showing the current song number (out of the total to be played).

An icon always at the top right of the screen shows you the battery status (it has four bars which are filled when the battery is fully charged and an animated lightning bolt when the battery is being charged).

I didn't notice it at first, but when the "hold" button is switched on (which locks all the front buttons so you don't accidentally press them), a small padlock is displayed at the top of the screen -- that's proved handy as I've more than once tried pressing buttons and panicked a bit when nothing happened. Now I see the padlock and slap my forehead and say "Doh!"

The display is also useful when the iPod isn't being used for music: while connected to a Mac as a hard drive, it not only displays a Firewire icon and shows that it's charging, but a small spinning arrow icon animates when you're accessing the iPod's hard drive.

Not Just a Music Player
A key part of the appeal and value of iPod is that it's not just a music player -- it's also a portable, battery-powered 5GB hard drive. For consultants or Mac professionals who often move between different computers, being able to transport a gig or two of data around is tremendously appealing.

This was part of what made getting an iPod an easier decision for me: I often carry Zip disks with me, but more and more a 100MB Zip disk just isn't big enough. I can now devote part of my iPod's storage for data and carry it instead of a stack of Zip disks.

The iPod's hard drive capability can help you justify the cost as well: don't compare the iPod with other music players; compare it with other portable FireWire hard drives and think of the MP3 player as a free bonus!

Using the iPod as a hard drive is very easy: just connect it to your Mac with the included FireWire cable. If you don't have iTunes 2.0 installed, the iPod immediately mounts to your desktop as a hard disk -- you're free to drag files to and from it. Your song files are not visible within the Finder (though several third-party tools are already available to make them visible). If you have the new iPod-compatible iTunes installed, it will launch automatically and you'll have to use a menu command to mount the iPod as a hard disk. Either way, just drag it to the trash to eject it when you're done (if you disconnect it prematurely, your Mac will display an error message and prompt you to reconnect it -- you could lose data if you don't obey).

As a hard drive, iPod isn't as fast as your internal hard drive, but it is pleasantly quick. I copied 100MB of photos in about 25 seconds; the same folder duplicated in the Finder in 12 seconds. (Of course copying 100MB with my USB Zip drive is a good excuse to go for a cup of coffee.)

So far I'm delighted by the iPod's hard drive capabilities.

Not Perfect
Like every new product, iPod isn't perfect. It's close, but there are a few performance issues and questions.

The biggest question is durability: no one knows just how reliable the iPod will be over time. It seems sturdily made, but at the same time it contains delicate electronics: I wouldn't recommend dropping it. A few have commented that it probably shouldn't be used in the rain as it doesn't appear to be very waterproof. I agree, though I don't think it's an issue if it's in a pocket and not directly exposed to water. I'm also not sure how it will handle general dampness or rapid temperature changes.

The most significant problem with iPod is that it won't start up if the battery's charge is too low. This can be disconcerting, since none of the buttons will do anything. You must use the little documented reset procedure to get iPod functional again (hold down the menu and play buttons for ten seconds) -- and charge it, of course.

This one bit me right away: I thought I had a fully charged iPod when I went on an airplane trip, but it was dead when I tried to use it. Apparently I hadn't left the hold button switched on (locking the controls) and it had accidentally activated and drained the battery.

At one point I thought there seemed to be an issue with the headphone jack: wiggling the connection produced static and interrupted the sound to the left speaker. However, this didn't happened with all headphones or stereo connections I tried, so it must have due to a particular jack.

I used a cassette adapter to connect iPod to my car's stereo and it worked, but the volume was extremely low. I had to turn up iPod to nearly maximum to get decent stereo volume. Perhaps that's always the case with cassette adapters -- it's been so long since I've used mine I can't remember if it did that with my portable CD player.

It's quite possible that more significant problems will be discovered and some may want to wait for an iPod release B in a few months (the way Apple does with many products), but I'm perfectly happy being an early adopter. iPod is here now, and it works now. Other than the one scare when it wouldn't work until I reset it, I'm content with my purchase.

Summary
Music is extremely personal, and it follows that music players are equally individual. For you to use it, a player must meet the delicate balance between weight, size, style, quality, and capacity that you require. It's not up to me to say whether Apple's iPod meets that goal for you: I can only say it more than accomplishes everything I need in a music player.

Overall, iPod feels complete. It's loaded with dozens of subtle quality touches that Apple is famous for -- such as the fact that the prongs on the AC adapter fold down -- as though the designers thought about what they were doing and actually used the product. Whether the 1.0 version is the one you need to purchase is something you'll have to decide for yourself.

iPod Cases Available at the Applelinks Store

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