The video iPod: a quick little review
January 17th, 2006 | by Tim Wilson |I picked up a shiny new 30-GB video iPod last week. After playing with it for a while I thought I’d share this mini-review with everyone.
The bottom line: it’s really good; better than I thought it would be. I’d seen one up close and personal when they first came out, but I didn’t have a chance to really try it until now. Some thoughts in no particular order:
- The screen is tiny, yes, but it’s high resolution and very watchable. An entire movie? Maybe not, but I’ve watched it for 15–20 minutes at a time with no trouble at all.
- Love the photos. My previous iPod was a 4G with the B&W screen. The photos look great and you can store a huge number of them in a little space because the iPod is only storing thumbnails fit for the iPod screen. (You can choose to store the full-size versions on the iPod too just in case you’d like to transfer them to a different computer for printing or other high-resolution display.) I’ve got 3,500 photos on mine so I’ll never be without cute pictures of my kids again.
- The AV cable is a must-have accessory. It allows you to feed audio and video through the headphone jack into the video inputs of a TV. Even content sized for the iPod looks decent on a television. (Of course, the resolution of standard-definition TV is pretty low.) I bought the 15-minute Rose Bowl summary from the iTunes Music Store and it looked pretty good.
- Handbrake is really great and a must-have if you want to put a DVD that you own on your iPod. Just for reference, Monty Python’s “Search for the Holy Grail” is about 90 minutes long and compresses down to about 450 MB when converted to iPod resolution. See Mark Pilgrim’s DVD ripping guide for details.
- I wish the battery lasted longer. A couple hours of video watching is about it. That said, I just plug it in while I’m at work and I never have a problem with it.
- No Firewire support. This iPod supports USB charging and syncing only. Not really a big deal, but it’s interesting to note that Apple is clearly moving away from Firewire.
- I’m using the iPod as portable storage more than I thought I would. Once you configure it in the iTunes preferences, the iPod shows up as an external drive that’s pretty handy for transporting large files that won’t fit on a USB thumb drive.
- I ended up buying the 2-year Applecare plan for it. It was a no-brainer for my laptop, but I’m wondering if a $60 warranty on a $300 device is worth it. Time will tell.
Tags: ipod
5 Responses to “The video iPod: a quick little review”
By Barry on Jan 17, 2006 | Reply
Hey Tim:
I won one of these right after they came out in a drawing at ABT’s website. Gave it to the wife and she really likes it. I’ll be getting mine as a gift for getting those three letters =). I like the 30Gb better than the 60Gb because of the thinness. Without getting all weird about it, the 30 is the best in-the-hand gadget I’ve ever held. They got the “feel” thing down for sure. BTW what kind of [screen] protection do you use to keep the screen pristine?
By John Evans on Jan 17, 2006 | Reply
Tim,
Thanks for the review. Got my 30 GB for Christmas and though mainly using it to listen to music and podcasts am enjoying it very much. Being a former Mac user, the school division switched platforms on us about 4 years ago. I was very interested in the Handbrake application, but alarmed as it only has command line input. I need something I can point and click on as I haven’t fully converted yet. Do you know of any other programs like this on the PC side that will do the same thing?
Keep up the good work on the blog and the podcasts. Enjoy them a great deal.
Cheers
John
By Tim Wilson on Jan 17, 2006 | Reply
John, there’s good news. Handbrake certainly has a GUI. Just download it and give it a try. You might also be interested in the recently released Handbrake Lite which makes putting a DVD on your iPod a two-click affair. I haven’t tried it yet though.
By Helen M.R. on Jan 23, 2006 | Reply
Tim,
Thanks for your review (and for your great blog and podcasts!). I have a question about the new 60 GB 5th generation iPod. I just bought one and planned to use it for (among other things) recording interviews for a research project I am doing. I discovered, after purchasing this, that the iTalk voice recorder attachment that fits the older generation iPods does not fit the new one! Apple does not address this on their website. Do you know of any way that I can record audio interviews using the new iPod? (and what attachments I would need to purchase to do this).
Many thanks.
Helen M. R.
By Tim Wilson on Jan 23, 2006 | Reply
Helen, that’s a great point and something I didn’t address in my review. I don’t use my iPod as a recording device, so it didn’t occur to me to include it. You’re right that the iTalk doesn’t fit the new iPod. Several 3rd party product vendors announced at MacWorld that they will be coming out with recording options this spring.