Im sure you can read the features this iPod offers elsewhere, but let me tell you that all of those features are indeed included and this device performs extremely well and plays songs as well or better than any other device Ive owned. In fact, if youre anything like me, once you start using an iPod, youll wonder what you did before. Playing music from CDs, even my personal mixes, now seems so antiquated.

Assuming you decide to purchase this, here are a few tips: 1) consider the 40GB model. Now that I have this, I wonder if more might be even better (Im nowhere near my 20GB limit, but more is always better, right?!), 2) consider adding an auto power kit for recharging from the lighter for long trips, and 3) very seriously consider getting the FM transmitter to play iPod tunes over any FM radio (Belkin makes a great model for about $30).

After that, the hardest decision is which songs to load up and play first. Enjoy!

Music playback is superb. 20 minutes of cached music (anti-skip) makes the battery life phenominal. Hard drive reads are quick. 10+ hours on a charge means itll last all night. Firewire connectivity gives fast music download. I loaded 10 gig of data in about 20 minutes (Mac Version).

Two days of struggle and it is going back...

THINGS TO NOTE:

(1) Lot more storage -- 20 gigabytes for my device (30 GB also avail)
(2) Much lighter, thinner, sleeker
(3) The play/pause buttons are now on the top instead of on the side (more convenient)
(4) The user interface is better, the main menu more convenient, you can now build playlists of favorite songs right on the iPod instead of only on a computer.

MINOR GRIPES:

(1) Seems that in making the new units more svelte the battery life had to bear the brunt of redesign. I am told older iPods could have lasted up to 12 hours, but my new piece lasts to a max of 7 hours (hope Apple fixes this with the next release).
(2) The control buttons molded into the surface of the unit are actually touch buttons. And in being that, they are not too efficient/sensitive, takes a bit more of a press than I would like to administer on a thin device.

SUMMARY:

Despite the minor grouses, Id recommend this player in a blink. Perfect bang for the buck.

Heres the bottom line: The I-Pod is by far the best mp3 player on the market, and everybody knows it. All these reviewers whining about stupid little faults are ignoring that the I-Pod is the best player there is, period. I seriously doubt some of the ridiculous statistics quoted below, like 1 out of 5 ipods has to be returned. Where the heck did they get that one, the national enquirer? Or else they obviously dont understand how to use the software properly, or refuse to use the software given for some stupid stubborn reason. Just buy an I-Pod, you wont regret it!

I own the 20MB. Let me assure you--its more than enough memory. I have mp3s on the thing that have been on there since the day I bought it. I have yet to exaust its capacity yet. In my mind, the 10MB is just a tad too little while 30MB is excessive and unnecessary. 20MB is plenty, folks. The only way I could see 30MB being absolutely necessary is if you want to use none of your PCs hard drive for any mp3s whatsoever. But that just isnt practical. Usually the way it works is you have 20-40MB on your hard drive and once youve compiled and organized a full collection of an artist or a playlist youd like to have on the iPod, you then load it onto it.

I admit, if I were buying my iPod again, I would go for 30MB; thats just my nature. But its completely unnecessary. 20MB is a dream. 10MB leaves you wanting.

Enjoy!

I tried for 4 days to make my Ipod read my mp3 files (because the Apple product does not read anything windows, do not ever rip your CDs with Windows Media Player). I finally returned the Ipod to find out that that the store was less than surprised... They first did not want to give me another one because Apple changed its policy! I guess it became too costly fot them to handle such a huge amount of bad products. I was lucky to buy my Ipod using a debit and a credit card... The store finally found it easier to deal with Apple than with me.

I so went back home with a brand new box... This time I discovered that the Ipod does not want to be add more than approx 20 mp3 at a time... You imagine how long it took me only to put a 1000 files into... And it is supposed to have room for 4000.

It now read the songs (the previous one just skipped 20 to 30 songs at a time...). But this is really annoying to have to hard reboot the Ipod every 30 minutes as it freezes due to some unknown internal crisis (it took me up to 4 attempts to put a mp3 directly made out of a CD into the Ipod...).

So Be Lucky or Beat It.

(1) Firewire connecter plug to iPod is very slippery and the connection is very tight. Would need a plier or screw driver to disconnect it. Generic firewires are better. They are inexpensive.

(2) Shinny rear and side casing is great. It is easily become dirty with finger and hand prints. A coating on the casing to prevent the miring would be nice.

(3) Standby battery life is a serious problem: it is completely discharged after leaving it for 2-3 days. Upgrade v 1.2.6 may have solved the problem. It is a software problem.

In any case, i just bought the 20G ipod the other day. For once i didnt shop around and i just trusted my friends raves concerning the iPod and dove into [money]worth of impulse buying. ill never make that mistake again.

To be fair, the iPod is sleek, sexy, small and lightwight. The packaging rocks, the documentation rocks, the interface (at face value) rocks.

The size is the same as any other Jukebox of the same size. So lets not rave about that.

Some people have complained about the earphones. If you spend 500 on an mp3 player, buy yourself the earphones you want and stop yer whining.

There are no batteries so if you run out of juice, yer done. Having said that, they claim an 8-10 hour battery life, it takes 1 hour to recharge 80%, 4 hours for 100%. i can live with that. The charging adapter is a little square rectangle, not the hideous clunky adapter im so used to hating.

The silver case smudges. Get over it. People who worry about smudged cases are far less cool than people with smudged cases.

i copied hundreds and hundreds of songs in 50 minutes. Wow. Then again, i dont see why im so important as to not need to wait overnight. But hey, ill take it.

MusicMatch stinks. Fine. Personally speaking, i manage my mp3s on my own. All i need is a program that facilitates copying the mp3s from a certain directory to the iPod. MusicMatch did that on the first try without any problem. If you dont like MusicMatch, use another program to manage your mp3s and just use it to transfer new songs.

(i admit ive only loaded it once and ive read reviews that mention the long amount of time it takes to make incremental updates. Then again, some people make it sound like they plug it in every day. i dont need that much instant gratification.)

My BIG gripe is how music is organized. Your options are Artist, Album, Song, Genre and Composers and these are set in the ID tag in each mp3. So you have to have these set correctly. Personally speaking, i arrange most of my mp3s by album, but i have a large folder of "singles." These all fall into their own individual Artist, Album and Song categories. i would far prefer the iPod to replicate my directory structure. Now i need to go through 8 gigs of mp3s and clean up ID tags.

Which leads to the biggest failing of the iPod. You cannot queue up songs. You can play all songs from any of the above categories (artist, album, etc) but thats it. People point out that you can create and save playlists from your PC, but when im on the subway and i want to play 2 of band Xs 6 CDs in a combined setlist that shuffles, im SOL. Personally speaking, i AM so important that i should be able to listen to what i want, when i want.

Sorry, i didnt buy an mp3 player to make me cool. i did it to listen to the huge amount of music that i own whenever and wherever i want. If i cant mix and match music on the fly, whats the point?

im especially amazed that Apple just released an update to the firmware and it doesnt address this GLARING issue. Its the most expensive player out there, get with it!

If this problem was solved, id be far closer to raving about the iPod. Honestly, once youre listening to the music you want to listen to, its great. The screen is large and easy to read, even if it does cut off long names. (An easy problem to solve with a firmware update, i would think.) Volume, forward/backwards and pause are all easy to use. i have no complaints.

im not saying that other mp3 jukeboxes are better. But dont fall prey to the overwhelming and, to be frank, unjustifiably manicly adulate reviews of the iPod. Look around and make sure you get what you want. Theres a LOT to like about the iPod, but counter culture cred doesnt eliminate its glaring and legitimate issues.

The MusicMatch software that comes with IPod frustrated me at first, but now that I have experience with it, it is a fantastic complement to IPod. This software is so feature packed, there isnt anything it wont do.

I was concerned about the price of IPod at first, but when I looked in my drawer and counted all of the other devices I had bought and had been unsatisfied with, the price made sense.

If you want to have your entire music collection, lectures, personal recordings, and whatever with you at all times, this is it. You will never run out of space. I have almost everything audio that I own on IPod and it isnt half full.

A must buy product.

For this price Id expect a full feature set.

the size - the size of the iPod is about the same as a pack of cigarettes.. traveling with this would be extreamly easy.. you would need to bring the cables (yes) but the size of the attachments wouldnt take up any space at all.. about as much as a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

the sound - the sound on the iPod is simply amazing! Compared to the sound of the other mp3 players you cant get any better than this. The sound is MORE than loud enough to drownd out background sounds, with EXTRA volume to boot!

the headphones - earbuds can be a bit uncomfortible if you wear them for an extended pair of time, so my advise would be, if you plan to wear them over (lets say 3 hours) invest in a decent pair of headphones.. but for occasional wear.. they arent so bad.. (Apple even gives your earbuds an extra set of covers!)

the price - umm.. sure you could buy a cheeper mp3 player but you would be missing out on the most sturdy, sleek, top quality players.. in this case - you GET what you pay for!

the space - you can fit snugly 8,000 - 5,000 mp3s on the hard drive.. the player comes with 18 gigs of free space with contact list, games, and other interesting little tid bits installed..

music match - some people have complained about this.. but for me it was completely simple.. there isnt anything complicated about the set up of the iPod or the downloading process.

battery life - when you get your iPod, charge it a little while you are setting up.. I did this and 4 hours later I only have 1 line drained from my battery life..

This little beauty is well worth its price and even then some, I would say.. It sets up VERY quickly and in about 10 mins your downloading music.. over all 5 stars is too little to rate the iPod.. I would reccomend it to everyone.. from the fist time you hear it.. you WILL be hooked!

So, if you have a Thinkpad, my advise is to give it a try, this product is worth everything!

Yes, a stop button would be nice but all of the other nice features outweigh it.

Great mp3 player! But MUSICMATCH(MM) just doesnot and can not match! After a day of trial and error on the MM, I finally gave up. The core simplicity brand image that apple tries to promote have been badly damaged by this software. After reviewing other peoples comments on the software, I think I will try to summarize my experience.

I have a ipod for windows. Thus, two alternative are available -- Xplay and ephpod.

Xplay -- Its value add is in the compatibility of using Apple filing system IPOD on Windows (eg. it allows interroperability between apple, and window file system). Other than that, it is Extremely simple to use - click and drag, and of course it costs.

Ephpod -- It is also very intuitive, and it is free. It is also a good software. (I had couple glitches at the begining, but nothing major - heck it is free). Has more functions.

I would say both software are all good choices (all have goods, and minor bads). I am surprised on little mentioning of Audible.com. Here is my input.: audible.com (it is encripted audio format for like book on tapes). Currently, it is only supporting MAC IPOD (no window). Thus, the safest way is to have a MAC Ipod and get Xplay to talk to window system. Or, recently released (2/9/03) ephopod beta ver. 2.6f, which it indicates support for audible.com (havent tried it yet). Wrote an email to audible, they say the window support will be announce soon (end of Sprint...).

Eitherway, MusicMatch is just a brand breaker for Apple (where were the apples consumer test group or QA? - how can they let this one slip?). Xplay or ephopod are cool. If you opt for simplicity, get Xplay -- very easy to use. If you want freeware or dont mind it, get ephpod, more function.

I also wish ipod can operate on battery (although it might make it uglier). I travel quite a bit. carrying another adaptor or cables is just too cumbersome. with battery, you dont need recharging, but just replace them.. easier, --

Syncing MP3s is very fast. If youve ever transferred MP3s to a USB MP3 player, such as the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox, you know what I mean when I say that doing so is painful. With a Nomad Jukebox, I would set it to sync before I went to bed. With my iPod, I let it sync while Im having a quick lunch. Its so much faster!

My primary reason for loving the iPod is that it is so portable. It is smaller and lighter than any other MP3 jukebox available. I always get at least nine hours of battery life out of it, and usually ten or more. I use it when I ride the train to work. Its perfect for flying across the country or around the world. Ten hours of battery life covers all but the longest of flights.

There are two downfalls of the iPod, which prevent me from giving it five stars. The first is a software issue. Apple sends you MusicMatch for use with a Windows iPod, which has a horrible user interface and is very slow. For encoding MP3s, I use Exact Audio Copy and LAME, resulting in better MP3s. For transferring the MP3s to the iPod, I use EphPod. All of these are freeware. The end result is much faster downloading to my iPod.

The second problem with this device is its price. The Nomad Jukebox, which also is 20GB, is currently significantly less expensive than the iPod. However, I think that the size, weight, and battery life of the iPod make its increased price worthwhile. If you have a smaller budget and dont mind some drawbacks (larger, heavier, significantly lower battery life, slower to transfer), consider the Nomad Jukebox instead. If you can afford it, though, I highly recommend the iPod.

Apple keeps releasing software updates with video games, contact databases, and calendars rather than working on improving the MP3 player capabilities. I think this is something to think about since this unit is a MP3 player and not a Palm Pilot.

First, I bought a Firewire card from Tekram which I had heard was selling the best Firewire cards on the market. After wasting an awful amount of time trying to get this card to communicate with the iPod we had to return it.

Then we ordered the Siig Firewire CardBus that IBM.com are selling from their ThinkPad accessories page. However, not even with this card were we able to connect her T30 to her iPod, and we had to return this card too.

As a last attempt we ordered Unibrains FireCard400 that Apple is selling in its own online store. To make sure it would be able to communicate with the iPod we also ordered a repeater with extra power supply. The result was the same.

It has not been possible to get any support or help whatsoever from Apple. Since they obviously can not guarantee that it their products readily work with a high quality laptop, I strongly recommend all Windows users to not even consider buying an iPod.

Unfortunately, Apple has chosen MusicMatch Jukebox for the "Winpod" interface. This software in no way measures up to the high standard of the hardware. After doing battle with MMJB for several days, I finally got totally frustrated with this clunky, awkward program and went looking for alternatives on the web. I downloaded Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and LAME to do my CD ripping and encoding and then set up Ephpod as my iPod interface. All are free for Windows. They take a little time to get used to, mainly because the are so loaded with options, but they all work together seamlessly and the result has been great music. Apple should do the right thing and get rid of MMJB as the default program for iPod. This terrific machine deserves better.

j.nomograms

I use it at home, plugged into a wave radio at the office, through the stereo in the car. It is such a joy to have thousands of songs in such a tiny device.

What an idiot. Just shows how little Mac users know about their shiny little toys. I bet this guy thinks having to change a fuse is "like, oh such a hassle, what a bad interface, man, its a bad vibe, help".

THE MAC IPOD IS EXACTLY THE SAME HARDWARE AS THE WINDOWS IPOD, FOO !
I know this because i bought a "MacOS" iPod (before the Windows version came out). I installed macopener software to read mac disks on my pc, installed ephpod to move the files, and hey presto, was up and runnning in under 20 minutes on my Windows box (which i didnt have to pay an arm and a leg for).

This guy is an excellent example of the kind of attitude problem (all mouth, and no technical trousers) that gives mac users a bad name.

Now I want to address some technical issues. One reviewer said that this iPod will not work with a Maxtor Firewire card. This is completely false. I have one and use it and it works beautifully. What u have to do is install the driver for the external hard drive storage that comes with this card. Dont just let Windows automatically install the driver. I mistakenly did this and had problems connecting iPod with my computer. Then I FOLLOWED instructions and everything was fine. I blamed the iPod and was cursing its existence but realized that Apple would not make a crappy product. I looked in the mirror and found the error lied with me.

Anyway, the iPod is trully special so pick it up but be prepared to spend alot of time transferring your CDs to it. By the way, MusicMatch is alright but it does take up alot of power so be prepared for computer hangups. Its ok...part of the software package...

I have the Windows version. I have to take the iPod, external controls (if I want to control the volume), Firewire cable, electrical wall plug, and earplugs or headphones. This is a lot of things that can easily get lost since they are each small. They also are all of interest to the TSA employees at airports, which is another nuisance.

The supplied earplugs provide nice fidelity, but do not fit my ears. Oh, well.

The iPod seems to run out of power very quickly when not in use. Recharging is common and a nuisance since it means the iPod is out of use during this period (typically about 4 hours). It is yet another item that has to plug into a hotel electrical socket overnight. Bring along a multisocket (preferably with a surge protector) wall plug while adding all of the iPod wires and plugs to your suitcase.

Reviews that talk about how small the unit is usually are meant for people who take the iPod (and possibly thier earplugs) only to work or day travel. In fact, I plug the unit into speakers at my office, so that the unit really is easy to carry in this case.

...

I recieved one of these little gadgets for christmas and have been completely satisfied with it. The battery seems to hold a charge well and it sounds great on the supplied headphones. It is easy to navigate and with a quick download of the freeware EphPod it has been a pleasure to add and delete mp3s from.

The only qualms I have are that you can not create playlists on the iPod, you most import them and (this might sounds a little silly) the carrying case is very poorly designed.

Either Way - You arnt wasting your money!

MusicMatch software? A pain in the tail to be sure. It took me most of the first night to figure it out (and Im still learning). Though I am far from a fan, it is at least as easy to use as the aforementioned "Real Jukebox". I can tell you that Im transferring tunes with no problems, tagging songs, creating playlists, etc. with relative ease. I think that, being new to all this, I dont really understand some of the features that Im suposed to be furious with. This helps. Overall, MusicMatch gets the job done for me to an acceptable degree (again, it being the only way Ive ever done the job).

As for the ipod itself? Yowza, baby. I have the 20GB windows version, and it is an absolute stunner in every way. Its a gorgeous little item, with features that, literally, a beginner can master in mere minutes without ever cracking a manual. I can say this, because it describes my initial attempts perfectly, and Im pretty novice, as youve likely gathered already. This thing sounds like a million bucks. The packaging is like art (I felt bad opening the box, it was put together so nicely!), and all the controls are gasp-inducing.

So, if youre new to all this and want to get going in the right direction? ipod is the one -- who knew music could be this awe inspiring?

They had an iPod on display and it looked compact and elegant. The Zen was in a locked case, so I asked the guy if I could take a look. He took it out of the box & powered it up. Within about 5 seconds I had made up my mind. Im only 41 years old and I am still on the lowest power reading glasses :), but the Zen display was barely readable -- especially compared to the large, clear iPod display. Apple has always made very crisp monochrome displays and this device is no different.

I checked to make sure the power adaptor was 100-240V and 50/60Hz since I plan on using this overseas and then made my purchase.

I was a little concerned about my decision due to the complaints about MusicMatch, but I thought I could figure it out. Its not that bad. The ripper seems pretty fast. I found it easier to play with the MP3 tags with the MusicMatch software than with the Creative PlayCenter. Making playlists was fast and fairly intuitive. One of the other reviewers complained that when he synced the iPod, it would re-load everything. That hasnt been my experience. It might *look* like it is reloading everything since it displays your whole music library initially. But, loading 50 albums the first time took about 20-30 minutes. Loading a playlist and then later loading a few more albums I had ripped was much faster.

The iPod itself is nifty. I like the touch "wheel". I like loud music, and it is plenty loud -- any more loud and it would be painful. The iPod firmware is pretty zippy too -- much better than my 1st gen Nomad Jukebox. There are a bunch of options for equalization. You can shuffle sounds or albums. The sound quality is good enough for me. And, its lightweight and compact.

The only complaint I have is with the included earbud headphones. I dont have especially small ears, but the earbuds were too big for me. Also, Apple is still in love with the "one button doing a bunch of things" UI idea --I had to look at the manual to figure out that to turn it off you hold down the play button for a few seconds...yeah...thats intuitive..NOT.

But, really these are minor complaints. Overall, Im quite satisfied and I would recommend the iPod to a friend. In fact, my girlfriend took a look at it, and I think I might be buying another iPod soon :).

I did buy an extended warranty...since I read about problems with battery life in other forums.

About the whole MusicMatch vs. Xplay vs. Ephpod debate, I downloaded all three. I have been using MM with the new Dell I got, so it made sense for me to keep on using it. I reccommend to future buyers that they give MM a chance and not spend the money on Xplay right away. Yes, xplay isnt free any longer, just the trial version was free a while ago. MM is kind of weird though, sometimes changes you make to the tags in MM wont make it to the songs in your music library.

The sound the Ipod produces is great, just as good or better than music from a CD player. I dont like ear-bud style headphones, they sound fine, but I prefer my $90 over the ear Sonys. The Ipod sound just as good with those huge headphone as with the ear-buds. The touch-pad is very cool, a little tricky at first, but you get the hang of it soon enough.

Reasons why we dont like this product:

1) For Windows it uses Music Match Jukebox (This product is a whole other story...come on, Apple, you can do better)

2) Just touch it...your fingerprints are all over it.

3) Not very user friendly.

4) It will frustrate you to the max (we know how you get when something doesnt work after the ninth time)

5) Its white! (What were they thinking?)

6) Very sensitive and scratches easily.

7) The case provided cannot makes no sense. You cannot opperate the unit with it!

8) The earphones are uncomfortable

The best optional accessory:

- iSkins. (We ordered two of them and they are great. As a matter of fact, I like them more than the iPod itself. You can get them in any color from Orange to Lite Lime. Check it out if you decide to get one. We got them from AppleLinks...)

Use EAC/LAME to rip and encode. Its free, and is the best ripper/encoder combo available. You can easily download it and set it up by going to Chrismyden.com, scroll down to "The Quintessentil Guide to Creating High Quality MP3s" and click on "read article".

I bought an IOflex fire wire card with both USB 2 and firewire connections. It uses an empty floppy slot in my puter, so it comes out the front of my computer. Very convienent, works great.

Use Media jukebox or Media Center 9 (same company, but Media center also allows for video and picture file management)for your file management. Download the ipod plugin for synching. Its faster and much easier to use than mmjb. You can create all sorts of playlists extremely easily--and smartlists, where all you do is enter a paramter (like all your music rated with a five for example) and presto--you have a playlist. Synching is a breeze with the ipod plugin. You can also use MJ to rip/encode, burn and label cds, manage picture files. You can trial it for free; it costs 30 to 40 dollars depending on which version you buy.

Two wonderful resources for the ipod are the websites "Ipodlounge" and the "Media Jukebox" forums (look specifically for the ipod topics in the media jukebox forums). Any question you have has probably already been answered there; if not, post your question and you will get very good help by the forum regulars.

If I can get the ipod to work easily and well, anyone can!

There was a guy writing several reviews (yes, it was the same dolt over and over) saying the Ipod skipped and that Apple acknowledged that the Ipod skips and isnt intended for jogging. Hes full of it. When I went to the Apple store where I bought the Ipod, I asked them if this were true and they laughed, and then picked up an ipod that was playing through external speakers and started shaking it like crazy. Never skipped once. I took mine jogging in the included case and never had a single glitch. Awesome performance.

The included earphones (buds) sound and feel exceptional. For the price of the Sonic Rio and a 256 meg memory upgrade, you can get yourself a 5, 10, or 20 gig Ipod.

>Downloading songs can be lengthy and battery intensive so the battery may only last for an hour or two while downloading via a non-powered FireWire card and so you will have to recharge before downloading to the iPod again.<

You can download 4000 songs in about 20 minutes or so. What is this "hours" problem? Sounds like a really bad firewire card problem.

The fact is that Apple should never have made a PC version. Ive used both Mac and PC versions and use Macs and PCs daily. As ever the mac product is more powerful and more user friendly.

itunes is a fabulous piece of software, musicmatch is not great - and nothing to do with Apple. Case proven. If you must use a PC get a Mac OS iPod and use Xplay for the PC - nowhere near the simpicity of ipod and itunes, but you get to use win media player and dual mac.pc compatability for your ipod.

Just be brave and ditch the PC once and for all.

.... Its not that big of a draw. It is not even worth installing Firewire on my PC, because it already has USB II. I would however, buy an iPod if you made it work with USB.

Then I bought the Ipod 20 gig for Windows. I love it. I have it almost full. I prefer using the Musicmatch Jukebox software over Creatives. Just be sure to use the version 7.1 which comes on CD with the Ipod and do not download a newer version. Musicmatch does not support the Jukebox III.

Apple did a wonderful job on this product from packaging to design..everything is flawless.

I use my PC Ipod everyday. The bundled Musicmatch software is buggy but I recommend Ephpod, its free too.

I love my Ipod so much, and I own the Nomad 3 too!!! There is no comparison, the Ipod is much better designed.

I have not been disappointed and am really glad that I waited to buy the iPod. Currently, I have loaded about 150 of my CDs onto the iPod, and this translates to 2,650 songs at the best recording setting. I still have about 35% of the available storage space available, so the estimate of 4,000 songs is spot on target. Aside from the well-documented headaches associated with the MusicMatch software, this thing is simply terrific.

By the way, I highly recommend that you check out the great line of iPod cases, particularly the new ones for the 20GB model, at vajacases.com. I came across vajas PDA cases here in New York City, and theyre simply the best that Ive found in the aftermarket. Ditto for the cases for the iPod.

I bought my first iPod when the 5GB model came out over a year ago. It kept me company on the four-hour drives (one-way) that I frequently had to make for a few weeks. That alone was worth the cost of the iPod, considering the drive was in an area where there are no radio stations.

Since then, I have upgraded to the 20GB model, and bought my wife a 10GB iPod. She loves hers, and the independence it gives her to have her music available in the car, while she exercises, in the shower, etc. My 20GB comes with me everywhere. I work in law enforcement and drive around all day in a service area covering several hundred square miles. I have "myPod" (as our three year-old son calls it) loaded with not only all my favorite music (about 3800 songs), but also radio programs I like to listen to, downloaded from the internet. I also happen to be a fan of Old Time Radio shows, and have been able to listen to hundreds of old shows while driving around on duty.

The iPod has allowed me to enjoy songs I forgot I had, listen to current radio shows that my schedule doesnt allow me to hear live, and to enjoy my collection of old radio shows. I honestly cant think of a better "gadget" to have. Its not just a gadget, it is a truly revolutionary device.

I read a story online of a man who digitized his elderly fathers record collection, loaded it all onto an iPod, and gave it to his dad...letting his dad once again enjoy the music from hundreds of old records, with no need to shuffle through the LPs, dust them off, put on the phonograph, etc. Instead, the iPod gave this gentleman the freedom to enjoy all those memories again. Indeed, the iPod is about more than just music. it is about FREEDOM. It is about YOUR LIFE.

The downside:
1. Instructions on what to expect on the iPod screen when connected to the PC would have helped.

2. There is a drain on the battery and constant recharge is needed. On a timed run down from full to 1/4 a straight replay lasted 6 hours, with the volume set to 50%. Thats good but not realisable in practice as, when not in use, it will loose some power on internal mechanisms such as the clock and calendar.

3. The battery indicates fully charged when connected to one of my PCs when in fact it is not charging. On the other PC it charges and shows the correct animation on the small icon. This mus be the Firewire card, however the full indication must be an error with iPod.

I am using S/W Version 1.2 and believe versions 1.2.1 or 1.2.2 are available but do not know what these correct yet, I will investigate.

In summary; I am extremely pleased with the device as it does exactly what I wanted from such a machine. The above criticisms are minor in comaprison with the good side.

The problems was that for some reason that MM would not load the complete files needed to run the hardware. I looked at Windows Explorer and found out what files needed to be added to the desktop and transferred them with a USB storage unit. Voila the software worked as it was suppose to. I did a little jury rigging and put the icon that is suppose to be on the task bar by transfderring to the desktop . When I haveto use the Ipod I just doubleclick the desktop icon and it appears on the taskbar.

What amazes me is that MM is of no help to their customers on
this important matter.

If Apple wants to charge a premium for their product without getting a bad name for themselves with the Windows crowd which is an untapped major income stream for them they shoud get to work on this pronto.
I almost bought an Apple notebook. But after, this experience in arrogance I dont care to buy their products and will stick with Windows. I was really opened minded to give Apple a try. No More!! They blew it.
[...]

Anyway, Ive got to say in Apples defense, I dont find the price excessive. Apple went out of their way and appear to have selected\\built in some very nice quality "user interface" features. This isnt a cheap plastic molded device that cost apple $40 to make. Being in electronic design, I can tell ya the LCD screen is top notch...I would guess they pay quite a bit for that alone. EVERYTHING else follows suit. So although its not cheap in comparison to other "similar" products, you DO get what you pay for in hardware and software.

I will agree with everyone that musicmatch isnt great. In fact, I went ahead and invested in 3rd party software which I REALLY like. IMO, its worth it!

Also, to those that are not satisfied with the "load time" between songs, especially when your trying to play cross\\beat mixed tracks, I suggest you buy or download some freeware that takes the multiple tracks that you want and makes ONE MP3 file. Problem solved.

My ONE single complaint about this is the lack of an FM receiver and or voice recorder. This is the reason for the one missing star. Should have been included...its cheap to build-in and wouldnt affect the power\\size at all.

If you want the best and can part with the money, this is DEFFINATLY the one you want for now.

Buy one...youll never regret it!

1) Apple needs a separate PC website because PC support online is basically non-existent.

2) No audible.com (audible book service) support for Windows-based users. Additionally, it looks like Apple has an updated Mac iPod Updater (1.2.1 recently came out) but not a corresponding new Windows iPod Updater and the website does not tell you that the update is not compatible with Windows. PC iPods should have the same support and features as Mac-user iPods and it seems like there could be a divergence.

3) "SOUND CHECK" is a volume stabilizing feature on the iPod but it is not compatible with MusicMatch 7.1s "Volume Leveling" and therefore, effectively not compatible with Windows-based iPods. This is a great feature and it is wrong that it is not currently being supported in Windows.

4) Cannot add "Composer" tag (used on the iPod) through MusicMatch and other music management programs.

5) iPods Internal Software. I have suggested many of these changes to Apple:

A) Long song, artist, and album names get cut off and some songs have the same name (happens when you have 1000s of songs), which can lead to confusion. There is a screen (I believe browse...albums...all songs) where the songs are not in alphabetical order but in album order but the names of the corresponding albums are not on the screen. Apple should add length (time), album, artist name, genre and track number of a song after the song title when the song title is highlighted for a certain amount of time. I think this could be accomplished by automatic scrolling over to the information when the song is highlighted and the longer the song is highlighted the more information is revealed. This could be especially helpful for songs with the same name, which happens when you have lots of songs. Further, this could alleviate the problem with song titles being too long for the browse screen and this happens a lot with different remixes. Also, there are album titles that are too long for the screen, too (for example, "100 Masterpieces of Classical Music (Vol .1)" vs. "100 Masterpieces of Classical Music (Vol .2)" vs. "... (Vol .3)" and so on) and scrolling over to reveal the full title and artist would be excellent (and if there is more than one artist for an album, it could say "Various Artists") because right now if an album title is too long (and the same with artist name), there is no way to see the full title on the iPod even in the "Now Playing" screen (it only scrolls to reveal the full song name).

B) Add day of the week to the clock.

C) Songs that have no album title (missing tag) should be put under a "Miscellaneous" or "No Album Title" when browsing "Artists...Albums". Since these songs are not included in the album listings, they will not play if you were to play from the album screen or when shuffling by albums.

D) Apple should add scan or intro that plays the first 10 seconds or so of songs (and you should be able to do this randomly and within artists, composers, genres, albums, and playlists) until you hit a button and then it will play that song and will resume the scan after the song. This is extremely nice when you have thousands of songs on your iPod and dont want to sit there and hunt for the song.

E) Playlists. Currently, you have to download playlists (not only song order but the actual songs so if you already have the songs in the playlist on your iPod, you will have duplicate songs) from your computer. Therefore, you should be able to create playlists on the fly from the files that are already on the iPod. More importantly and at least, I would like to be able to create a queue list (even just one queue list at a time would be fine) so I can choose a song to play and then choose the next song to play and the next and so on and being able to save it as a playlist would be a great bonus.

F) Add .wma file support.

G) The iPod places the group "Lo Fidelity Allstars" in the "F" section (rather than "L") like it does for the titles that begin with "The" and the same happens with titles that start with "De"). This should not happen in English menus.

H) Add support for second artists and song comments tags.

7) FireWire Issues. As a PC user (especially laptop users and 4-pin FireWire card users), you may have to buy a new FireWire card and an AC adapter if you want to supply power to the iPod while connected to your computer because many PC FireWire cards do not supply power to the peripherals. There is not a separate power source on the iPod other than its FireWire port (which is can be connected to the FireWire card OR to the AC Adapter but not both). Downloading songs can be lengthy and battery intensive so the battery may only last for an hour or two while downloading via a non-powered FireWire card and so you will have to recharge before downloading to the iPod again.

Oh and I almost forgot all of this for the price of [$$$]. Give me a break.

To address some complaints I have read at this website: When you chose the "hold" key, a little lock appears in the window to let you know that you cannot make any changes in settings. As for fingerprints, they wipe off easily with a soft cloth. The remote is small so it is possible to accidently fast forward to the next song unintentionally, but who wants a cumbersome remote? You adjust to how it must be handled quite easily. The leather carrying case is great and I feel that it is well protected when placed inside it. The only downside to this unit is the MusicMatch program. Hopefully Apple will change this soon.

1. Cant just drop MP3 files on iPOD in Windows File Explorer, have to use the buggy musicmatch software;
2. If you plug in the remote while the iPOD is connected to FireWire, the remote is not going to work after you disconnect FireWire;
3. There is no way to increase/decrease iPOD volume using the remote if nothing is playing (or if playback is paused). You have to start playing something first;
4. No radio;
5. No cross-fading of MP3s;
6. The included game is [very bad];
7. Shock protection is not working well for me (may be just my unit);
8. The metallic back of iPOD is shiny, fingerprints make the unit look like a piece of garbage;
9. The clip of the remote is too small, clipping to shirt or bag strap is not secure;
10. Pressing buttons on the right side of the remote can "un-clip" the remote if it is clipped to your shirt;
11. Clipping the remote to things is almost not possible without touching the buttons. You have to switch the "hold" switch before, to disable the buttons;
12. There is no indication on the screen of which "hold" switch is engaged;
13. The buggy Musicmatch software is really slow and crashes frequently, but you HAVE TO use it, there is no way around;
14. There is no way to keep playable music files on iPOD only to release 20Gb of computer disk space.
15. There are no updates to any files on the computer and the iPod; if you connect iPod to your computer, MusicMatch will still spend at least half hour to synchronize.
16. Does not play WMA files;
17. No USB connection to computer;
18. ...definitely overpriced.
19. etc, etc, etc...

I want to stress that all shortcomings of the new iPod I have seen are born at Apple and its allies, nothing is related to Windows or Microsoft.

Conclusion: if it was not for the small size, I would not have bought this iPOD for [less]. This MP3 players features are worse than features of almost any other MP3 player released one or even two years before iPOD...

1) The iPOD device portion of the MusicMatch software is [not good]. Updating my 20g iPOD with about 9g worth of data has taken over 1hr and is necesary each time you make even the slightest change to your library. Fortuanantly I was able to sign up to Beta Test the new XPlay software that supports this unit and it works great.

2) This unit will not work well for anyone hoping to jog or bike etc. with it. My wife and I have been running with it and it basially freezes up 90% of the time. Apple product support told me that there is no fix and confirmed that others have experienced the same issue.

The bottom line is dont get an iPOD if you need a unit to run with.
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I returned my unit to Apple and recieved a new one in the mail in about 3 days. Great service... But this new unit locks up when I run as well...

Pros:

The iPod itself is a great product. I have owned three previous MP3 players, inlcuding the a RIO, and a Compaq. I always felt shortchanged, I gave them away or sold them, because I didnt like them.

The iPod is what all MP3 players should be like. I had no hitches installing the software, and getting songs loaded. Cant say that for the my previous 3. Something important to me was that other MP3 players dont seem to be able to drown out outside sound sources. The iPod gets loud enough to drown out sound and more. I have nothing bad to say about the iPod itself, it is sleek, small, has tons of space, and the Firewire connection downloads at blazing speed compared to a USB.
This is an outstanding product, although pricey, but well worth every penny.

Cons:

To find something wrong with the iPod youll have to look at the software it comes bundled with. MusicMatch has made a decent attempt at software for the iPod, but it does fall short. It doesnt download the tag information for MP3s correctly. Therefore you will see misspelled artists and repeated names on your iPod screen, even when they dont show that way on the computer. To fix this, I found deleting the tag completely (just editing it doesnt always work), and then re-creating the tag for each song fixes the problem. However, be warned when you delete the tag information for a song, MusicMatch will place it at the top of the list in your Music Library screen, and file it under Miscellaneous. All you have to do is go there and re-create the tag and MusicMatch will place it in its proper place. Also MusicMatch will truncate band and song names for no apparent reason. Fixing this isnt too bad for one song, but since the iPods can carry thousands of songs, this is a real problem. I must say though, that MusicMatch does allow you to edit and re-create tag information for multiple files at once. So this helps a little when editing entire albums. But the software developers at MusicMatch have let the public down by letting this one slide through. Dont you guys test your software before you put it on the shelf? How could you guys have missed that? (I develop software by the way).

There are other bugs in MusicMatch, but I wont go into them here. The one described above is the real annoying one. MusicMatch would be well advised to take care of this soon.

Ive had the 20gig iPod for about 3 weeks and its great. My entire cd collection is on it with plenty of room to spare.

The controls are intuitive.

I have used it for a hard drive once or twice and there is nothing special to get it to work. Have not got to the other extras yet.

My main issue is with the battery. It appears to loose its charge while its turned off. I admit this could be user error since I havent gotten around to reading the instructions. Charge time is quick and I can listen to it all day without recharging. It says 10 hour battery life, but I think Ive gone beyond that several times.

I can recommend it without qualms.