“The long-awaited Wi-Fi-enabled iPod is finally here, but it’s taken a different form from what most of us would have guessed. The iPod Touch doesn’t resemble a classic iPod at all, but is instead a stripped-down, slimmed-down iPhone. While having Wi-Fi on board is nice, Apple isn’t breaking any new ground with the wireless features,” Troy Dreier reports for Datamation.
“The iPod Touch might wow people with big-screen video playback, but its Wi-Fi abilities won’t get any kudos. You can buy songs or albums wirelessly with the included version of iTunes, provided you have an open 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connection, but you can’t share songs with other people or even sync your songs over a home Wi-Fi connection. For wireless abilities, the iPod Touch trails the Microsoft Zune,” Dreier reports.
MacDailyNews Take: That’s quite a stretch: iPod touch gives users the full Internet via Wi-Fi and Microsoft’s Zune does not give any sort of ‘Net connectivity, nor does it allow for buying music wirelessly. Basically, with the Zune, you get welcomed to the anti-social and find yourself doomed to a fruitless search for another Zune with which to “squirt.” Some fun. The iPod touch does not “trail” the Zune in wireless abilities.
Dreier continues, “You can also surf the Internet with the iPod Touch, again assuming you have a Wi-Fi connection, and browse YouTube clips with the included application. But that’s where the fun ends: mail and weather apps found on the iPhone are missing here, even though they would have added some much-appreciated utility.”
MacDailyNews Take: Again, the iPod touch gives users the full Internet which means that Mail and weather information can be accessed via the Web. Drier sounds like he wants iPod touch to be an iPhone (reviewing it from the perspective of a “stripped-down, slimmed-down iPhone”) when he should be reviewing iPod touch for what it is: an iPod with a multi-touch interface and some extremely compelling extra features.
Dreier continues, “The iPod Touch isn’t everything a Wi-Fi aficionado could want, but it extends the iPod’s usefulness in interesting new ways. If you’ve got a huge music library, you’ll probably prefer the iPod classic, which offers an amazing 160GB for $349 and also displays video (although on a smaller screen). But, if you want to get the ‘big picture,’ and shopping for songs wirelessly appeals to you, get the iPod Touch. We’re looking forward to the second generation, which should offer more storage and, we hope, more wireless options.”
Full article here.
iPod to iPod wireless sharing would, of course, be welcome on the iPod touch. More so than the Zune if for no other reason than you can actually find another iPod with which to share content. Plus, Apple seems to want to end DRM instead of depositing it on every wireless transfer like DRM-loving Microsoft’s Zune. Regardless, we’d take having full Internet access over wireless sharing any day of the week. Hopefully, we’ll see some additional wireless capabilities added to iPod touch via updates, instead of users having to wait for a second generation touch. As it is now, the iPod touch is the most advanced digital media player on the market and can only get better.
Just another asshat journalist who should get off the web altogether.
this guy is a jerk $%^!!!!!
running 10.5 on my macbook pro is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
Dreier’s Spin (or should that be Spin Dreier) sounds like a lot of hot air to me.
I wonder when the last time he used a Zune to “share” a song wirelessy to another zune?
That feature for the zune is like having heated seats in your car when you live in phoenix for the summer.
honestly i’ve yet to see someone using a zune in public…
Why oh why did I buy the iPod touch when I could have bought a Zune…….
@Lord Byron
I saw someone having a Zune in public……
MW: brown….I sh*t thee not….
I almost got Net with a Zune once, but it bounced off the backboard…..
MW:behind
I live in New York City and maybe once or twice a month do I see a music player other than the iPod. And like Lord Byron, I have yet to see a Zune.
I think it’s humorous that these “journalists” think that the Zune is of any relevance whatsoever.
Apple should still enable Mail and Maps. When wifi is available they’ll work, when wifi isn’t avalable they won’t.
Not that hard to figure out.
Seems like Apple could use an iTunes sharing scheme for their iPods, just like I can listen to another person’s iTunes library over our network without being able to copy the files.
what a maroon!
for those not familiar with Bugs Bunny, that was the polite way of saying “what a fscking moron”
Don’t click his links or read this, it only fuels his life. Let his stories die along with his career.
The jerk got a free Zune for writing some skewd crap. What an ass
Yo MDN –
No “Think before you click ™” ?!?
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MDN Magic Word ‘deep’ – the piles of surplus brown Zunes are deep!
What the heck is a WiFi aficionado? I mean, I love having WiFi available, whether I am using my iPhone or my MacBook Pro. But I am an aficionado of the things I can do with it, not of the tech itself. What a goofy category.
Who the heck is Datamation and why do we care what they say about anything?
This guys is whoring for hits.
I have never wanted to share a song or have a song shared ipod-to-ipod. I don’t see why this is even a discussion. If I hear a song I like, I can buy it directly from iTunes – way better!
Smoking crack and writing reviews is bad, mmmmkay?
The author is an idiot. The Zune doesn’t even have a web browser, so how on earth does it lead the iPod Touch, which has a full HTML & CSS compliant web browser built in?
This “journalist” must have gotten a few “gifts” from Microsoft for this review, it seems.
Actually, he makes a good point. The Zune can wirelessly sync with a computer, while the iPod touch cannot.
Music Wants To Be Listened To Three Times,Then Destroyed.
Zune.
once Apple unleashes Bonjour on the iPhone all *&% will break lose
“You can also surf the Internet with the iPod Touch, again assuming you have a Wi-Fi connection, …”
Yes because WI-Fi connections are so difficult to find. They only exist on the top of Mt. Everest. Shame on Apple for relying on Wi-Fi connections for internet capabilities. Shame on you Mr. Jobs!!!!
Just my $0.02
lacking a near-useless, poorly executed, DRM-addled feature = trailing?
move on folks … nothing to see here but a large pile of stupid.
@Peter
Actually, the Zune CAN’T wirelessly synch with a computer.
Oh, you are talking about version 2 that isn’t out yet. You still need to plug a Wire into the Zune 2 to be able to ‘Wirelessly’ Synch it. How is that useful?
Plug in wire A or plug in a wire B. I don’t see how that is some tech breakthrough.
“lacking a near-useless, poorly executed, DRM-addled feature = trailing?”
He’s probably talking about the Zune 2 which will allow syncing over WiFi. I wouldn’t call that near useless.
I’d still rather have the iPod touch’s WiFi web browser, though.