“While the quality gap may have narrowed in the digital audio player world, the iPod is still the best. The fifth-generation model arrived as, in fact, the best iPod ever, which is quite an achievement, especially considering the miraculously minuscule iPod nano which was released a couple of weeks earlier,” Jeremy Mahadevan writes for The New Straits Times.
“Not only is the new full-size iPod thinner and lighter than the smallest examples of its predecessor, it costs the same, has a larger, higher-resolution screen, comes in a new colour and, most excitingly, plays video,” Mahadevan writes. “It can handle video formatted in either MPEG-4 or H.264, and content is already on hand for download off Apple’s iTunes Music Store, which is as yet unavailable in Malaysia thanks to our love for the pirate’s life. Arrr.”
“What else? It still displays photos, syncs all its content seamlessly through Apple’s exceptional iTunes jukebox application and, of course, plays music — the sound quality is slightly better this time around, with lush bass and steadier treble,” Mahadevan writes. “The library of podcasts available via the iTunes Music Store has expanded considerably, and subscribing to specific feeds and having them auto-uploaded to the iPod is still a frictionless affair. Is that it, then? Well, not quite. There are weaknesses…”
Mahadevan’s list of weaknesses includes:
• The packaging – “nowhere near as memorable as it was back in its premium days”
• Lack of bundled extras – “dock and audio-visual cable are now (expensive) extras and — most annoyingly — so is the power adapter”
• Lack of FireWire compatibility
Mahadevan notes, “Thanks to the quality of the screen, videos are remarkably nice to watch. The syncing, navigating and playback processes are identical to those for music and photos, so they don’t take long to figure out. You can’t fast-forward or rewind through a video (it would require more processing power, which would mean a bulkier, more power-hungry device), but you can use the iPod’s Click Wheel to scroll to any particular point in the video… it might be a pricey toy, but it’s the best music player out there, a good photo viewer and a decent video player, and it makes the competition, and its predecessors, seem archaic while managing to keep prices level.”
Full article here.
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It is great when we start critiquing the packaging! What other consumer electronics company has packaging worthy of comment?
If they had made the iPod w/video $500 like my 3rd generation 30gb model cost critics may have said that is too much to pay for video. By dropping the cables and power they were able to reduce costs and thus price. Probably a wise marketing decision. I can’t even tell you where my power supply is and I seldom use the dock. I do like the firewire speed.
Just got my 5G 60GB and I love it! Absolutely the best iPod I’ve owned.
It says something when one of the only cons that someone can come up with in relation to your products is that the box it comes in isn’t AS beautiful (memorable) as it was.
I suppose it is irritating that so many of the extras are becoming just that – paid for extras, but I suppose we’re now getting into the realms of houses owning multiple iPods and not needing multiple docks, multiple power adaptors etc. Even if you do buy some of them it still doesn’t make the iPod that much more expensive than it was and still probably good value with all the extra features the device itself packs in.
The cost of the extras is irritating though. $19 to replace a 3ft. cable?
My own 2 cents
– (I bought my 60gb 4th gen ipod (photo/color) at the end of august – only a short time before the 5th gens were released…) –
I’m bummed they ditched the remote connecter on top and I’m glad that I got the best of the 4th gen ipods before they were gone. I commute via public transit every day and having the remote is great.
Who knows – maybe someone will make a wired remote that works off the dock connecter…. – but for now, I prefer what I have to a 5th gen…
That’s all –
MDN magic word: doubt – as in, I doubt anyone cares about the remote except me….
DreamTheEndless
I miss the remote port too- it’s one of the reasons I will probably not upgrade to 5G for a while. I have a 4G non-color 40GB, and it works just fine. The thing is, I need the remote port for the voice recorder attachment. I use it for recording lectures on a daily basis, and I have yet to see a similar attachment for new iPods. I don’t think it was a very popular attachment in the first place, so I wouldn’t be surprised to never see one again.
Also, you should look into whether you can get video playing on your iPod through installing Linux. I have no idea whether it works on iPod Photos, but my friend got video to play on his iPod nano, and that was meant for photo-only. It’s possible yours might already have the necessary hardware to play video, albeit not as well as a 5G one.
“…it makes the competition … seem archaic”.
As a Mac user, whenever I use Windows these days I get that same feeling of being forced to use a product that’s archaic. Finding a document is like, “Zog want file. Get file. Where window? Virus bad. Zog no happy.”
The only accessory missing is the power adapter, this really should be included. My 30GB 5G does not charge fully when connected to the computer via USB 2.0. I had a power adpter from my 4G iPod and when I charge the 5G with the power adapter I get a full charge. USB 2.0 is just as good as FireWire in my experience, the remote was useless to me and now you really only have to buy one dock and you an keep it every time you upgrade your iPod ad use, now that the adapters are included. The missing remote port bugs me because I have $40 Belkin voice recorder and now will have to buy a new one when they release a compatible one for the 5G, but that’s just the price of staying current. And now when I upgrade iPods the new “soon to be released” voice recorders will work, now that there is only 1 port to think about.
The thing is, I need the remote port for the voice recorder attachment. I use it for recording lectures on a daily basis, and I have yet to see a similar attachment for new iPods. I don’t think it was a very popular attachment in the first place, so I wouldn’t be surprised to never see one again
One thing which you don’t mention is that the 5G iPod has full stereo line-in recording capabilities. This will spawn a huge range of microphone accessories, for everything from bootlegging concerts, to recording lectures, to doing line-in recording from another source.
This is a huge (under-mentioned) addition to the iPod. If i had to guess, i imagine that Apple did not trumpet this feature to stay on the good side of the recording industry who apparently demanded that the original iPod not have anything better than low-sampling mono recording.
I wonder what changed to prompt this great addition to the iPod.
There are ‘other’ mp3 players out there? I havn’t seen any.
Lack of Firewire compatability is bu11$h*t!
I just upgraded from my 2nd gen 20GB iPod (which I gave to my sister with a new NewerTech battery, and she absolutely loves it) for the new 30GB version in black. I love it to bits, but I have to admit I miss all the extras I got with my old one but most of all it’s the no Firewire that really pisses me off. It means I can’t use the old adapter which is still in the house to charge it, plug it into my eMac (no USB 2 makes it painfully slow) and I have to carry the USB cable to work and back as I can’t just use one of the Firewire cables lying around the office. Still I have to say €330 compared to over €600 I paid before is something I can’t overlook.
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well, folks out there that want a wired remote for the 5th generation ipod (mainly ipods with the dock connector), i’m building one for myself that i can plug the standard Apple wired remote into and it will fit on the end of the dock allowing the dock to still be connected to the power. it will go between the dock and the cable. i’ll let you all know how successful i am with the prototype.
i also suspect that the first one will be just a pile of soldered wires to look at.