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TechLarry
RIP [H] Brother - June 1, 2022
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2005
- Messages
- 30,483
Having a 5 year old Gen 2 10GB, and a year or two old 1st Gen Nano 4GB, it was time for something bigger. My CD lilbrary has out-grown everything.
The decision was Touch, Classic or ???
My local BB got in some Touch's (both models). Went in, and bought one.
First, let me say that this thing is an engineering marvel, and the user interface simply wonderful.
If Apple ever gets around to building a tablet computer, they are gonna kick ass with it.
Operation is very smooth. 16GB won't hold everything I have, but I could work with that.
Wifi worked well and was easy to set up.
HINT - If you are using MAC Address Filtering, and need the MAC address to plug into your router, just go to the information page and scroll down. Apple wisely put the MAC address in clear view at the bottom, but you have to scroll down to see it.
Then, I started noticing the little problems:
1. No exterior volume control. Didn't think I would miss it, but I do.
2. No ability to show up on desktop as a hard drive.
3, While the user interface is very speedy, I thought syncing was slow for some reason.
4. Does not play most current iTunes video's !!!
5. While cool, I tired VERY quickly of web browsing on a 3.5" screen.
#4 was particularly troubling. Any video's in widescreen format seemed to work fine. However the vast majority of video's on iTunes are formatted for the iPod Classic style display. When one of these are played on the Touch, you get the music, but instead of video you only get the cover art. If you tap to view the video screen, you get NOTHING!
#4 was the final straw for me. For $400, regardless of how much an engineering marvel the thing is, it just wasn't ready for prime time @ a $400 price. At least for me.
Ok, now what...
Just to be thorough, I did some research on non-Apple players.
Creative Zen W. Nice device. Chunky as hell though. It is also expensive IMHO and not a challenger for the Touch given it's price and feature set. If it was $100 cheaper, maybe... Low res screen, but reviews indicate it's really not that bad.
Archos 605 WiFi - Folks, this one almost had me! 4.3" screen. Wifi. Touch Screen. 30GB for $299.
Eventually, however, I took it off the list for a few reasons:
1. $299 gets you the basic player. Everything else is an added cost option. Hell, even the Web Browser is a $30 option! To use certain types of Audio, you have to BUY separate plug-ins. It looked to me like this thing could nickle and dime you to death.
2. Starting with the 605, the battery is no longer removeable. What a TERRIBLE idea. This was one major point the 604 had over the Touch and other iPods.
3. I've never seen such a mixed bag of reviews on one device. Some people love the thing. Some people hate it to the point they want to throw it. Bizarre...
4. One thing consistent in reading reviews is that everyone things Archos support sucks. Badly.
5. To _effectively_ use the touch screen, you have to use an included stylus. That's just bad user interface design, especially for a device with such a big screen.
6. You pretty much have to use a stylus, yet they didn't engineer in a stylus holder! How the hell did that get past the useability tests!
Which brings me to the Classic.
When I first saw the Classic, I didn't like it. But that was a Silver one. I thought the top looked cheap. Like Pot-Metal.
I also felt the display model had a jumpy menu system. Like the unit wasn't powerful enough for the new MacOS X based Operating System.
Those were the two main reasons I skipped on the Classic in the first place.
But, talking all the above into account, I finally decided that the 80GB Classic, in Black, at $249 was the sweet spot for me at this time. It's not a huge investment like the Touch, Archos or Creative, and it gives me a player that will last me the 2 years or so I figure it will take Apple to fix the final mars in the Touch design (including the storage space).
After getting it home and using it a while, I have to say I am much more impressed than I was initially.
First, in black, the iPod Classic looks damned good! It doesn't have that cheap pot-metal look that the silver one had.
I also thing the screen asthetics are much better when the screen is set in black.
I also found that, unlike the silver demo unit I played with at the store, this one doesn't have the jumpy menu's or sluggish operation that I witnessed. Maybe it's a factor of the test mule being nailed down to a wooden stand and immoveable that made it feel that way.
None of that on mine.
Finally, this is unexpected, but iTunes synced to the Classic in half the time it did to the Touch. I don't really understand that. You'd think the touch's flash would be faster.
At least in my case, it wasn't.
So this should last me a couple of years until Apple gets the (otherwise excellent) Touch "Just right".
The decision was Touch, Classic or ???
My local BB got in some Touch's (both models). Went in, and bought one.
First, let me say that this thing is an engineering marvel, and the user interface simply wonderful.
If Apple ever gets around to building a tablet computer, they are gonna kick ass with it.
Operation is very smooth. 16GB won't hold everything I have, but I could work with that.
Wifi worked well and was easy to set up.
HINT - If you are using MAC Address Filtering, and need the MAC address to plug into your router, just go to the information page and scroll down. Apple wisely put the MAC address in clear view at the bottom, but you have to scroll down to see it.
Then, I started noticing the little problems:
1. No exterior volume control. Didn't think I would miss it, but I do.
2. No ability to show up on desktop as a hard drive.
3, While the user interface is very speedy, I thought syncing was slow for some reason.
4. Does not play most current iTunes video's !!!
5. While cool, I tired VERY quickly of web browsing on a 3.5" screen.
#4 was particularly troubling. Any video's in widescreen format seemed to work fine. However the vast majority of video's on iTunes are formatted for the iPod Classic style display. When one of these are played on the Touch, you get the music, but instead of video you only get the cover art. If you tap to view the video screen, you get NOTHING!
#4 was the final straw for me. For $400, regardless of how much an engineering marvel the thing is, it just wasn't ready for prime time @ a $400 price. At least for me.
Ok, now what...
Just to be thorough, I did some research on non-Apple players.
Creative Zen W. Nice device. Chunky as hell though. It is also expensive IMHO and not a challenger for the Touch given it's price and feature set. If it was $100 cheaper, maybe... Low res screen, but reviews indicate it's really not that bad.
Archos 605 WiFi - Folks, this one almost had me! 4.3" screen. Wifi. Touch Screen. 30GB for $299.
Eventually, however, I took it off the list for a few reasons:
1. $299 gets you the basic player. Everything else is an added cost option. Hell, even the Web Browser is a $30 option! To use certain types of Audio, you have to BUY separate plug-ins. It looked to me like this thing could nickle and dime you to death.
2. Starting with the 605, the battery is no longer removeable. What a TERRIBLE idea. This was one major point the 604 had over the Touch and other iPods.
3. I've never seen such a mixed bag of reviews on one device. Some people love the thing. Some people hate it to the point they want to throw it. Bizarre...
4. One thing consistent in reading reviews is that everyone things Archos support sucks. Badly.
5. To _effectively_ use the touch screen, you have to use an included stylus. That's just bad user interface design, especially for a device with such a big screen.
6. You pretty much have to use a stylus, yet they didn't engineer in a stylus holder! How the hell did that get past the useability tests!
Which brings me to the Classic.
When I first saw the Classic, I didn't like it. But that was a Silver one. I thought the top looked cheap. Like Pot-Metal.
I also felt the display model had a jumpy menu system. Like the unit wasn't powerful enough for the new MacOS X based Operating System.
Those were the two main reasons I skipped on the Classic in the first place.
But, talking all the above into account, I finally decided that the 80GB Classic, in Black, at $249 was the sweet spot for me at this time. It's not a huge investment like the Touch, Archos or Creative, and it gives me a player that will last me the 2 years or so I figure it will take Apple to fix the final mars in the Touch design (including the storage space).
After getting it home and using it a while, I have to say I am much more impressed than I was initially.
First, in black, the iPod Classic looks damned good! It doesn't have that cheap pot-metal look that the silver one had.
I also thing the screen asthetics are much better when the screen is set in black.
I also found that, unlike the silver demo unit I played with at the store, this one doesn't have the jumpy menu's or sluggish operation that I witnessed. Maybe it's a factor of the test mule being nailed down to a wooden stand and immoveable that made it feel that way.
None of that on mine.
Finally, this is unexpected, but iTunes synced to the Classic in half the time it did to the Touch. I don't really understand that. You'd think the touch's flash would be faster.
At least in my case, it wasn't.
So this should last me a couple of years until Apple gets the (otherwise excellent) Touch "Just right".
