The iPod is 6.5-ounce and $400USD – [lays 100 hours or more and it can double as a hard drive while operating for 10 hours on a single charge. It is also a stylish piece accessory for the fashion conscious.
While other stand-alone MP3 players rushed to the market place, the iPod seems a late arrival.
The iPod contains unique features all packed in a pack-of-cards size player. Apple is asking you, in essence, why you would settle for anything less. The iPod is beautiful, back steel and iBook-like translucent white plastic on the front and it rests neatly in your hand.
The iPod has a simple interface, which uses hierarchical menus that rely on just a few buttons and a dial that rotates for selection or volume control. A large LCD screen displays choices and bright enough to read in the dark. Apple claims the iPod is so easy operate a child can do it.
The 5-gigabyte hard drive is capable of holding the equivalent of 100 CDs or more than 1,000 songs, depending on the sound fidelity of your MP3s. It uses the FireWire standard for both blazing-fast file transfers — downloading an audio CD's worth of MP3s takes about 10 seconds — and recharging the unit's 10-hour lithium polymer battery. The iPod comes with a tiny AC adapter block that the included FireWire cable plugs in to for non-computer charging. Recharging the battery entirely takes three hours, or just an hour to bring it up to 80 percent.
Use a FireWire equipped MAC to load the music in to the iPod. The iPod mounts as a hard drive and contains the iTunes 2 software needed to work with it, which lets you configure automatic or manual synchronization. With the auto sync, you can dump all new MP3s you rip onto the iPod each time it's plugged in, or use playlists you create to sync specific collections in an order you've defined.
The iPod's not perfect it has its drawbacks. Such as no equalization controls (now found in iTunes 2, however), nor does it provide a balance adjustment or mono adjustment. Apple has promised to keep the iPod up to date with newer music formats and the missing adjustments could be solved with later firmware upgrades.
The iPod is yet not stable and it can be crashed easily, but Apple will be offering a 90-day warranty to compensate for this.
The stylish, sleek MP3 player I am sure will satisfy any MAC user and even maybe convert the die-hard PC user to play with the Apple’s iPod.
