“Don’t call it the Video iPod, the vPod, or anything that indicates that this is a video player. It’s the new iPod, period. Though it does have video-playback capabilities, Apple has chosen to keep the iPod’s focus on audio (for now). That said, video looks excellent on the new model’s 2.5-inch screen, and the thinner profile—not to mention new audio capabilities such as high-quality stereo recording—makes it more versatile than previous generations. Consider that you can now get the 30GB model for the same price as the previous-generation 20GB model, and you have a pretty impressive product,” Michael Kobrin writes for PC Magazine.
“Overall, we’re very happy with this new release, though we’d still like to see a few things like photo pan and zoom, a custom graphic equalizer, on-the-fly calendar editing, and the ability to delete files directly on the device. Combined with Apple’s video offerings (which include plenty of free video podcasts as well as for-pay content), we think video support is a very good addition to an already excellent music player,” Kobrin writes.
Full review here.
Advertisement:
The New iPod with Video. The ultimate music + video experience on the go. Buy it now at the Apple Store. From $299. Free shipping.
Related articles:
CBS News: New iPod shows ‘Apple will continue to dominate portable digital media player market’ – October 21, 2005
Apple’s video-capable iPod and iTunes are first vital link in new distribution paradigm – October 21, 2005
USA Today: Apple’s new iPod + video: world’s foremost portable music players have gotten only better – October 20, 2005
Comprehensive review of Apple’s iPod 5G with Video – October 20, 2005
The Motley Fool: ‘Apple’s new video-enabled iPod is about to save the televised content industry’ – October 20, 2005
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s new video-capable iPod – October 20, 2005
NY Times Pogue: ‘watching video on new iPod’s 2.5-inch screen is completely immersive’ – October 19, 2005
MSNBC columnist: after initial coolness wears off, Apple’s video iPod will wind up in dresser drawer
Apple’s $1.99 iTunes TV show downloads may be ‘the savior of good television’ – October 17, 2005
Apple opens Pandora’s box for the media business, could have profound long-term consequences – October 17, 2005
BofA analyst: Apple video play an ‘evolutionary opportunity,’ 9.3m iPods to be sold this quarter – October 17, 2005
Apple has the potential to change not just the audio industry, but the whole entertainment industry – October 17, 2005
Advertisers welcome Apple’s iTunes Store commerical-free content – October 17, 2005
New York Times writer can’t think different: ‘video iPod may not be ready for prime time’ – October 17, 2005
Podfather: iPod porn is going to be huge – October 14, 2005
Forrester Research: Apple transformed music distribution, now it is doing the same for video – October 14, 2005
Watching episode of ABC’s ‘Lost’ on 2.5-inch iPod screen surprisingly compelling – October 13, 2005
Get ready for the iPod video torrent search sites – October 13, 2005
Apple’s new iMac G5, iTunes 6, iPod video designed to bait Hollywood – October 13, 2005
Apple video iPod+iTunes could create mass audience for video on the go, despite studios’ misgivings – October 13, 2005
Using QuickTime Pro to create videos for playback in new Apple iPods – October 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple has just produced ‘the tipping point’ for entertainment content – October 13, 2005
Apple’s video play likely to unsettle movie, TV, advertising and retail markets for years to come – October 12, 2005
Apple unveils new 5th generation iPod, now plays music, photos, and video – October 12, 2005
Apple is number 1
Wow, a FIVE OUT OF FIVE from PC magazine.
Boy has things changed, it used to be PC mag was spewing the most anti-Apple propoganda the world has ever seen, afraid of losing Microsoft’s advertising dollars.
Perhaps PC mag is just fluffing for dollars, but it’s nice to hear they changed up.
yes, exactly!
Sounds like the iPod is finally ready for the new Star Search.
What a bunch of turncoats!
Anyway, PCRag, welcome to the real world.
Thank god they didn’t put Dvorak on the review team, or we’d be hearing about how biased tech reviewers are and how they love Apple because they always use Apple hardware and the problem will only get worse as iPod marketshare grows and Apple’s hardware continues to innovate.
Glad to see there are some competent people at PC Magazine to compensate for the black hole that goes by the name Dvorak.
Magic word: “feeling,” as in: it’s a good feeling to see a PC magazine admit that Apple “doesn’t suck” (god forbid they call Apple “good,” “excellent” or even “innovative”).
I’ve heard that the iPod can cause damage in earthquakes…
What are the new high quality recording capabilites? I need to find a good recorder for recording voice during weddings. Will this do it? hmmm.
Did you people forget that the iPod (and iTunes) is also a product for Microsoft Windows? PC Magazine is not being a “turncoat” at all in this case. I’m sure that more iPod+iTunes users are Windows users than Mac users…
I am amazed at what is happening here. PC Magazines are watching Apple’s every move. Reviewing all of their products, and making refrences to them in their articles (not to mention the countless ads that feature PowerBooks with the Apple logo photoshopped off). What are they getting at? Don’t they have something else they can write about- something that THEY can use? Haha guess not
Very impressive. Go Apple!
with a WHEEL?
This ain’t a PDA.
Zooming with a wheel makes sense though.
Proof positive that making iTunes available for Windows opened the door to all of this recent success… “Hell froze over” indeed.
Congratulations Apple… on a job well done!
I’m sure the PC magazines are trying to position themselves to be the magazine that covers all personal computers – windows, mac, linix, etc… They may actually succeed because they can do stories talking about integrating Macs and Windows systems.
It is the magazines and websites that include Windows in the name that are doomed.
It was a good review. It mentioned some interesting details, like lyrics on the iPod screen, videos continuing from the point they were stopped, improved audio quality and CD quality recording that is accessible in disk mode. On the other hand they did not mention the lack of FireWire support or the loss of line out from the dock connector; those are two reasons not to give it a perfect score.
Sol,
for PC users, the lack of FireWire isn’t a big deal, since most PC’s don’t have FireWire anyway.