The iPod, which has been around for over a year now, is perhaps the worlds most popular, and best-selling portable digital music device. Its greatest selling points, of course, are its mobile capacity and ease of use. Fully digital, and capable of storing 20GB of songs, the iPod is basically the forerunner of this type of device. The batteries that power the iPod currently have a lifespan of 12 hours, enough for one full day of music. The device can, of course, play MP3s, but it can also play AAC and Apple Lossless.
One of the most popular features of the iPod is the shuffle feature. Using the iPod Click Wheel it is possible to shuffle and play songs randomly from a song list of your choosing or your complete music database. The mix of different types of songs coming at you randomly can be quite refreshing. Another great feature is the ability to easily download digital songs from the Internet. With the iTunes online music store you can find a huge database of songs to choose from and purchase if you desire. The songs on sale are arranged by genre such as Rock, Country, Jazz, Reggae, Pop, Electronica, Hip Hop, and many more. iTunes can be utilized using both Mac and Windows PCs.
In addition to downloading songs from the internet, iTunes allows you to import songs from your CDs to your iPod. You can transfer the songs in MP3 or AAA format and at the quality level you desire.
There are also some special features found on the latest iPod. There is now an alarm on your iPod so that you may wake up to your favorite music. There is also a calendar and to-do lists, as well as simple games such as Music Quiz, Solitaire, Brick and Parachute. Also, the new iPod has a notes reader that enables you to read text-based documents that you have downloaded. In these ways, the new iPod increasingly resembles a typical PDA, as well as a digital music device.
The iPod currently sells for approximately $200 - $350. The earlier iPod with 15GB of space sells for around $220, while the newest version with 20GB of space usually sells for about $390.
ABOUT THE AUTHORBradley James is a senior editor at SciNet.cc, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on the Apple iPod, please visit our Apple iPod webpage.