Apple iPod Photo 60GB Model

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Jody Farr

November 12, 2004

I’ve been a music fan since age zero, and a digital music and photography buff for several years now.  Being a full-time computer nerd, the concept of digitizing music and photos into a format that could be carried around on a disk just amazes me. 

Sitting at the bottom of my home entertainment stack is a 300-disc Sony CD changer, which currently holds 240 CDs.  That box is a pain to move … with that many CDs in it, I’d wager that it weighs in excess of 100 pounds.  I always wondered what it would be like to convert that massive paperweight into ones and zeros and make it ultra-portable.  Until recently I just fiddled around with flash players like the iRiver iFP-390T, which sported 256MB of RAM.  I was able to cram about 50 songs into its memory, which seemed to be enough for workouts and long walks, but a song or two was always missing from the playlist. 

As of last Thursday, I no longer have that problem. 

Enter the iPod Photo.  This fabulous device comes in two flavors (40 or 60GB), sports a backlit LCD color screen, and comes with a dock and both USB 2.0 and FireWire cables.  Both models appear to be the same size, whereas previous models of the iPod varied in size from the smaller to larger capacities.  This one is the biggest yet, ¾ of an inch thick and weighing in at 6.4 ounces.  They’re a bit pricey though, with the 40GB model being $499 and the 60GB model priced at $599. 

From left to right is 60GB iPod Photo, 40GB 3rd gen iPod, and 20GB 4th gen iPod
 

Tech Specs:

Dimensions: 4.1” x 2.4” x 0.75”, 6.4 ounces
Capacity: 40GB or 60GB
Battery life: Up to 15 hours (music only); 5 hours for slideshow/music
Skip protection: 17 minutes
Display: 2-inch (diagonal) 220 x 176 pixel 65,536-color LCD with LED backlight
Ports: Dock connector, remote connector, headphone jack (supports video output)
Dock ports: Dock connector, line out, S-video
Connectivity: FireWire 400 (6-wire) and USB 2.0

Included accessories: photo dock, earbud headphones, carrying case, AC adapter, FireWire cable, USB 2.0 cable, A/V cable. 

I had never really played with an iPod before buying this one, so I can’t make comparisons between the new click wheel models and the 1^st through 3^rd generation iPods.  The finish on the outside of the device is excellent, though I am dreading the first time that it gets scratched.  The white plastic outer cover looks like it could be nicked just by looking at it.   

As far as ports and connections are concerned, they all appear to be pretty standard.  The dock connector on the iPod and the dock itself look to be the same as the ports on my friend’s 3^rd generation iPod. 

Using the iPod’s controls is a no-brainer, even for this first time user.  The click wheel is very easy to use, and the circular menu navigation method is just ingenious.  Leave it to Apple to finally do away with up/down and left/right arrow buttons!  My grandmother would have no problem with this device. 

Installation and configuration was a snap, once I realized that I would need to install a FireWire card in my aging Dell Dimension (USB 2.0 wasn’t an option due to a BIOS conflict).  As with any new battery-operated device, I plugged it into the wall and let it charge for a couple hours.  The manual states very plainly that you must have a good charge on the iPod battery before connecting it to the PC.  The reason is simple: While the iPod will normally charge through the USB 2.0 or FireWire cable, it will not charge while its internal drive is running.  Therefore, if the battery is weak and the device shuts down during the sync process, you might end up with corrupted music and photos on the iPod. 

While I waited for the battery to charge, I upgraded my iTunes to version 4.7 and begin the task of importing some of my CDs to the computer.  If you haven’t used iTunes before, you will be surprised at how simple it is to import your music…and completely fill up your hard drive.  After rectifying that situation, both my iPod and my PC were ready to be introduced. 

When the two devices make contact, iTunes takes over and begins the process of synchronizing your mobile music collection with the files on your PC.  Depending on the amount of music you have on your PC, this may take a while the first time, but subsequent sync operations will only copy over items that have changed since the last hookup. 

One thing I always hated about MP3s was the fact that they just sounded bad, at least in my ears they did.  The lows and highs always sounded a little clipped, and just about every one of my MP3s had some static, clicks or other problems that just annoyed me to no end.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, at how good the iTunes-encoded files sounded from the iPod.  It is very difficult to detect differences between the original CD and the ripped song on the device. 

One nice addition to the musical capability of the iPod is the ability to display the album cover of the music you’re listening to.  This is very slick, but be warned: only the album art for music purchased through the iTunes music store is automatically imported.  If you want the covers for CDs you’ve imported, you’ll have to do it yourself.  I just used Google’s image search to find each album cover in a JPG format, then dragged it into the iTunes software. 

And now a word about the photo capabilities of the iPod.  The manual states that you can either sync your Adobe Photo Album images, or instruct iTunes to just copy images out of folders on your PC.  The software automatically found all of the photo folders that were in my My Pictures folder, and I instructed it to upload about 980 photos.  The  photos are not stored on the iPod in their native high resolution format (though the manual states you can add those to your iPod as an option).  The software converted each photo into something readable by the iPod, and the process took about twenty minutes. 

Navigating through your photos on the iPod is a lead-pipe cinch.  With the click wheel, choose “Photos”, then the group of photos you’d like to see (each sub-folder within your My Pictures folder becomes one group).  The screen shifts to display thumbnails, 25 at a time.  Choose any one of them and click the center button to see it full-screen.  Occasionally, a photo would not load when clicked on, but if you swirl around the click wheel and come back, it will appear.  This appears to be a bug, and hopefully Apple will come up with a patch soon (the software on the iPod is v1.0). 

You can also choose for the iPod to display a slideshow of your photos.  There is a full screen of options available, including the time to display a slide, whether or not to play music during the slideshow, how you want them shuffled, and whether you’d like them displayed on your TV. 

Wait a minute!  Did you say TV? 

With the supplied A/V cable, connecting the iPod to your TV is easy.  Plug the cable into the headphone jack (or the dock line-out jack), then plug the three RCA ends of the cable into your TV’s left and right audio and video connectors (you can also opt for S-video from the dock).  When you instruct the iPod to display a slideshow now, it will ask you if you want the output to be redirected to the TV.  The end result is a nifty presentation, full-screen on your TV, accompanied by music of your choice if you desire.  The slideshow adds some cool transition effects between photos to keep it interesting.  And if you’re the person sitting on the floor in front of the TV during one of these slideshows, you can still see the photo on the screen of the iPod. 

Battery life so far has been pretty good.  Apple claims 15 hours of music playback and 5 hours of slideshows with music in the background. I charged it overnight and brought it into work today.  It has run constantly from 7am to 5pm and is almost dead, but it’s still playing.  For the last half hour, I’ve had the backlight on constantly and I still have a little sliver of red showing in the battery bar as the device plays my music.  It looks like I’m going to get a little more than 10 hours on this charge, which isn’t bad considering that I was fiddling with the device all day, turning the backlight on and off, moving through my playlists, etc. 

Other extras that came with this iPod are:

• Games – Brick (like Breakout), Music Quiz, Solitaire and Parachute.
• Notes
• Alarm clock – with your choice of a beep or a playlist as an alarm
• Contacts, calendar and notes

I’ve been walking around with this thing in my hand for several days, but I am much happier when it is protected by the supplied belt-clip carrying case.  It’s the same one that’s been around for years with other iPods that I’ve seen, and while it protects the device pretty well, it scares me a little.  The material inside the case isn’t the softest around, and I worry that it will scratch the delicate finish on the iPod.  Also, the top and sides are a bit exposed.  As soon as iSkin releases a cover that fits this device, I’m buying one.  

So there you have it.  All in all, the device is excellent.  My only complaints are the intermittent photo bug and the price.  My concerns about how delicate the device is will probably turn out to be unfounded, but for now I’m still a little worried about it.

Price: $499 (40GB) to $599 (60GB, the one I tested).

Pros:
iPod quality
60GB storage, plenty of room
iTunes supports it flawlessly
Windows or Mac, does not matter
USB or FireWire
Sounds great, and photos look awesome, especially on your TV

Cons:
Very expensive (but Apple provides financing, har har)
A little heavier than previous iPods
Photo display bug
Device’s cosmetic delicateness a bit scary