Polishing Up the IPod
By now, you know where you stand on Apple's famous portable player: You either love it, or you're unimpressed. So here's a simple take on the new versions: Yes, the new models are much better. Apple's offering 20GB and 40GB IPods for $299 and $399, respectively--that's $100 less for the same capacity as earlier models. The company's built in some very real improvements as well, including easier navigation and better battery life. And yet these IPods aren't likely to win over power users holding out for the perfect MP3 player.
Apart from the price, the big changes are the battery life, now rated at 12 hours of continuous play, and the Click Wheel control that debuted with the IPod Mini. With the Click Wheel, Apple has managed to elegantly combine its touch-sensitive scroll wheel with easy-to-use buttons. A button in the center of the wheel lets you select items; the menu, fast-forward, rewind, and play/pause buttons are located on the wheel itself. You click the wheel in the appropriate direction to activate those functions.
Beyond that, a few thoughtful tweaks make the IPod a more friendly device. A new setting lets you adjust the playback speed on audio books without turning the narrator into a chipmunk on helium. You can remove songs from On-The-Go playlists, and save the resulting arrangement of tracks if you like. If you want to shuffle through all the songs on your player, you'll find that choice on the top menu. So thumbs up to the new IPods. An already great player gets lots of useful additions.
Still, the new IPods can't quite claim the title of perfect MP3 player. Codec support is limited to AAC, MP3, and Apple Lossless--so those of you with WMA, Ogg Vorbis, or FLAC files are out of luck. You still can't rearrange songs in a playlist; and there's nothing like the DJ feature on Rio's Karma player, which lets you build rules-based playlists on the go. Finally, a few corners have been cut to help trim prices. The 20GB model lacks a docking cradle, and neither model comes with the case and inline remote that shipped with older IPods. But both models ship with a USB 2.0 cable as well as a FireWire cable.