12.09.01
Part Two iPod review
After day two a full 24 hours of usage has accumulated, and I’m sold more now than when I bought it. When I plugged it in, it launched iTunes and proceeded to ask me two questions: What do you want to name your iPod? (Columbia) and Do you want it to have a copy of all your music. (Yes).
9 minutes and 3 gigs of 160KBps MP3s (~400 tracks*) later, iPod was ready to go.
I did let it charge for an hour just to get the batteries going, but even that was an 80% charge. The full 10 hours requires 3 hours of charging.
Site have already popped up to support it: http://www.ipodhacks.com is the best of the bunch at this point.
Likely revisions to the product. I split them into near term (6 months) and long term.
1) Near Term: A remote control like the one Sony has for it’s MiniDisc players. The hardware already exists for it in the headphone jack.
2) Near Term: The screen’s high dpi screams out for more usage. First impulse: a ‘screen saver’ type thing that bounces to the rhythm. Second possibility: QuickTime playback. Imagine having your iPod sync to you Tivo.
I wet myself.
3) Near/Long Term: Larger Hard Drive. Obvious, but worth noting in the face of competition from 20 and 40 GB MP3 players. iPod has the largest drive in that form factor, about the size of a Type II PC-Card (PCMCIA). Toshiba expects to release a 10gb version next year. Pretty amazing for a single platter hard drive.
4) Long Term: Attachments. A Still Camera is a no-brainer. A Video Camera is a short leap. I’d settle for an Audio input/On the fly recording from a mic powered by the Firewire port.
5) Long Term: Apparently there’s legacy code that’s been disabled that allows the iPod to burn directly to CD-R. If CD-R, why not DVD-R?
Scenario: I take my iPod and slot it into my palm-sized video camera, grab my portable DVD burner. I go to the party/wedding/reunion/family-friends event/news story location/etc. I record the events and burn a DVD for all interested parties, at the event. The archival quality DVD-R means I can clear out my iPod and begin shooting again.
(* Depeche Mode tracks _only_. All eras except SoFaD and Singles 86>98.)
Oh and did I mention the music that I bought to accompany my new pal? The new load includes the Best Of’s for Renegade Soundwave, 808 State, Blur, Billie Holliday.