Apple iPod Photo 60 GB White M9586LL/A (4th Generation)
By: Apple Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 36
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 On: 2007-12-27
If theres one thing Apple knows how to do, its to create hype and not a quality product. This is the second iPod I have owned and this is also junk. Every six months or so, I have to have it repaired. The first time was under warranty, so that was no big deal. Afterward, I bought a 1-year extended warranty for $60 just to protect myself and good thing I did. This iPod broke down again twice during the extended warranty period. Now that the warranty has expired, the battery died and cost $60 to replace. Two weeks after replacing the battery, the whole unit wont start up. I tried connecting the iPod to the computer to troubleshoot, but it doesnt even connect.
Unfortunately, my kids have to have an iPod because their friends have one. So now Ive bought them the next generation iPod which also has video. I wont be surprised if the new one breaks down as well. Ive already told my kids this is the last iPod I am ever buying and they will have to get jobs (no pun intended) if they ever want another one.
Bottom line:
==> When the iPod is working, its good.
==> If you must buy an iPod, budget for the extended warranty because you will surely need it.
==> Consider other items, like the Creative Labs "Zen" series. I have owned two different Zens, and I have not had any problems at all.
==> I will not buy any other Apple iPod. Im hoping a competitor will come out with something similar to the iPhone.
 On: 2007-07-31
I recently purchased this model and I must say,I love it!Cyling with the ipod and raybans is akin to riding in a convertible with a killer system.I really dont care for the earbuds so I replaced them with a different set of phones and it works out fine.The only drawbacks are : my wife and daughter each want one,and given the amount of space it has (actually more than my laptop)-it does occupy quite a bit of my free time loading music onto it.
On: 2006-08-29
60GB = IPaperweight
I loved it while it worked, but it doesnt seem to work long. Ive had 2 of these - each lasted ~7mo. before the drive croaked and began generating "Internal Disk Errors" that prevent the device from being reset, reformatted, or in any way accessed by ITunes or my computer. Apples warranty is good only 1 yr. from the date of purchase. It covered the 1st one but not the 2nd. ~$250 to repair. I now refer to it as the IPaperweight.
On: 2006-08-19
This (60 Gb iPod Photo) is my second iPod (the first, a G4 40Gb was pickpocketed from my napsack in the NYC subway - beware) and Ive had it over a year. Looking over the spate of recent negative reviews here prompted me to respond. Most of the shrieking pans and drooling raves are divorced from reality. I think its important to point out that iPod is a tool and only a tool - a portable music player - a compact digital device with much in common with a laptop computer. It is highly configurable and the user has many choices about how to encode music - which affects the final results a great deal.
1) About scratching. The front of the iPod is shiny plastic. Youll need to put it in a protective case. There is an extremely lively aftermarket. I bought a nice silicon case with a compliant plastic panel that covers the display for $12 on Ebay. It does the trick and a year later my iPod looks like new if I take it out of the case. A protective case must be considered manditory for an iPod. Thats it - now get over it.
2) All hard drive based devices of any kind - iPods included - have limited G-force tolerance. If you jog, it will go into protection - (the music stops and unit appears paused until you hit "play" again). If you drop it while its running, you might kill it - or cause disk damage that will require a reformat. If you want a player for jogging or sporting (skiing, skateboarding etc...) buy a Nano or a shuffle or competing solid state player. Memory chips have no moving parts and dont suffer these limitations. They just have the size limitation.
3) All electronic devices are subject to RF interference - especially digital devices. The iPod has a nice metal body shield, but it can crash when taken near power lines, radio transmitters etc...
4) Sonically all MP3 players will vary in quality based on how much encryption you choose to use. For best sound use a high bit rate (192K or above). Apple offers proprietary schemes that offer higher performance. Competing open standards exist for just about every format Apple has cooked up. Is this skeevy of Apple? Perhaps. Its similar to what Microsoft did on computers. Love it or hate it - its part of the whole Apple experience. I use Apples lossless compression and it works seamlessly with iTunes and yields wonderful high quality rips. Are they portable with any other deivce than the iPod? No. Do they work with any software other than iTunes? No. Am I complaining? Not yet! I personally think the iTunes software is the best software and the iPod is the best player. Down the road if the proprietary format limits me from doing something I want to do I might start complaining. Life is full of compromises and choices.
5) You must turn off equalization if you care about sound quality. Sadly this is true of every portable digital player currently extant in the world. I was expecting better with Apple - but its not so. Every single equalization setting introduces audible distortion that ruins the experience for an audiophile like me. With EQ set to off I get wonderful sound.
6) About reliability and dealing with broken players - portable electronics take a lot of abuse. Laptops have shorter warranty periods than desktops because rapidly spinning hard drives dont tolerate motion well. This is exactly the situation in the ipod. Its a tough environment for a hard drive. There is a lively after-market for hard drive replacement services. Ambitious folks can buy cheap replacement hard drives on the open market and fix/upgrade their iPods. Sure youll scratch the case getting it open - but its better than a dead iPod. Battery life issues - same situation. If you like to tinker you can do this for little cost. If you are paying for the service it becomes more justifiable to just buy a new unit. Is this cost effective? Nope. But if you become addicted to the wonderfuly lifestyle of having one of these players - youll do it.
7) Audible distortion of the Photo iPod becasue of the video jack? Maybe on early units. I have one and dont have any audible distortion when the EQ is off. This unit sounds noticeably better than my 40GB G4 iPod did. It has better battery life too.
8) What about music services? Its a totally personal opinion - but I dont recommend buying music on iTunes or any other service. They all pretty much use relatively severe mp3 compression. Buy the CDs and get full resolution. Then rip at your choice of compression. That way you have a full backup and you get all the music you pay for. I also feel that music appreciation sometimes takes time. There are many songs on albums that I didnt initally like, but grew to love over time simply because I had them because they were on the album with some more accessible hit. If we only buy the hits - we never get to know the more difficult songs and we end up shallower.
Ill confess Im a dyed in the wool audiophile - the kind who hangs sonex on his walls and puts specially made sound reflecting pillows on his ceiling. Im also, like a lot of audiophiles, opposed to digital equipment in general and prefer the warmer fuller sound of analog sources (like my very tricked out turntable). That being said - the system that shows you the most is the one you use most often - and for me that is the portable. For years I had high-end cassette tape walkmen, then portable CD players of various stripes. The iPod completely blows away all previous portables by a WIDE margin. The iPod sounds way better than most stand-alone CD players - the sonics are comparable to a really good DVD player playing CDs. This is a killer sounding portable when used with lossless compression, and etymotic ER-6 headphones. It has better resolution than my big rig (Rocksan Xerxes turntable, Audio Research pre and amp, and ProAc Repsonse speakers). Granted this is digital - so the highs are more brittle and theres less warmth and depth. This is highly dependent on source material. Recent recordings by good engineers sound great - through the headphones or played on a stereo system with a good cord via a line out from the cradle. I get around 1500 songs - about 135 albums worth on my 60gb. The iPod is high enough sonically that it can function as my test source for critical listening of back-end components or sharing music with audiophile friends at their house (on their big rigs). This "library" aspect is the biggest feature of the iPod - and is really life changing. I cant recommend it highly enough.
My main complaint with the iPod is with the headphones. The included headphones are not adequate for musically satisfying listening. I recommend Grado or Etymotic headphones (even the bottom of the line ones). You dont need a separate headphone amp - unless you source material is unusually low volume. "Earbud" type phones are all garbage - avoid them like the plague. Other than that - Im a really happy camper with the iPod!
On: 2006-06-01
I am rating this iPod with 5 stars because I have never had a problem with it. Since day one it has been everything I hoped it would be. I purchased it as a combo with my IMac desktop. Due to a combo special and a student discount I picked up this iPod for $179. For that price, it really cant be beat. I purchased it because I have a huge cd collection (approx 1,600) that I wanted to transport. I was tired of lugging around 5-10 discs in my car or in a case on trips. While the 60 gigs didnt quite fit my collection, I have it filled up with over 16,300 songs. Thats enough music to last anyone a long time. The first thing I purchased was a clear, hard plastic case. I did this to prevent scratching and damage with a fall. Ive heard that these are two issues associated with the unit. That case is a wise $30 investment. It really is a wonderful invention. I havent had much luck with digital tuner connectors to my car stereo but plugged directly into any stereo it sounds great. Thankfully my wifes new Camry has an aux input jack. Im thinking of having one installed in my car as well. I find the rock eq preset to be the best sounding overall. It has been wonderful for long trips, vacations and working out. Downloading songs to it is a snap. Anyone who can turn on a computer can do it.
On: 2006-05-31
I am rating this iPod with 5 stars because I have never had a problem with it. Since day one it has been everything I hoped it would be. I purchased it as a combo with my IMac desktop. Due to a combo special and a student discount I picked up this iPod for $179. For that price, it really cant be beat. I purchased it because I have a huge cd collection (approx 1,600) that I wanted to transport. I was tired of lugging around 5-10 discs in my car or in a case on trips. While the 60 gigs didnt quite fit my collection, I have it filled up with over 16,300 songs. Thats enough music to last anyone a long time. The first thing I purchased was a clear, hard plastic case. I did this to prevent scratching and damage with a fall. Ive heard that these are two issues associated with the unit. That case is a wise $30 investment. It really is a wonderful invention. I havent had much luck with digital tuner connectors to my car stereo but plugged directly into any stereo it sounds great. Thankfully my wifes new Camry has an aux input jack. Im thinking of having one installed in my car as well. I find the rock eq preset to be the best sounding overall. It has been wonderful for long trips, vacations and working out. Downloading songs to it is a snap. Anyone who can turn on a computer can do it.
On: 2006-03-12
I have really enjoyed my I pod until I started to get errors in January 2006. I started to get an error that state that Itunes cant read to or write form the Disk meaning the Ipod itself. That means I cannot add music to or take music off of the Iopd. This was very upsetting to me as I have had this item for less than a year. I Finlay called tech support at Apple. They asked for the serial# for my Ipod. They told me it was out of warranty, that the warranty had expired in December of 2005 and there was NOTHING I could do, literally. I checked my purchase and found out that I had purchased this on April 7, 2005. I was so angry that they would tell me that it was out of warranty when it clearly was not. So, this is a warning to all Ipod owners of this potential problem.
On: 2006-03-11
I have really enjoyed my I pod until I started to get errors in January 2006. I started to get an error that state that Itunes cant read to or write form the Disk meaning the Ipod itself. That means I cannot add music to or take music off of the Iopd. This was very upsetting to me as I have had this item for less than a year. I Finlay called tech support at Apple. They asked for the serial# for my Ipod. They told me it was out of warranty, that the warranty had expired in December of 2005 and there was NOTHING I could do, literally. I checked my purchase and found out that I had purchased this on April 7, 2005. I was so angry that they would tell me that it was out of warranty when it clearly was not. So, this is a warning to all Ipod owners of this potential problem.
On: 2006-02-09
Had a 4th gen 40 gig that just causes me headaches. Sent in 3 times to apple and now it does not connect to crappy itunes software.I am ebaying the ipod and getting a creative.
I hate ipods!
On: 2005-09-30
I have a large CD collection and a job that makes me relocate frequently. I like to have access to my music between moves, and now, for the first time, I can have all of it conveniently at my fingertips. Not to mention at the office, on the go -- a truly revolutionary product. Works awesome as a music storage and playback device.
The picture function is nice, but dont get it for that. The screen is too small to really enjoy pictures with, and it will get scrathed up. Theres almost no way to avoid this. Mine was scratched in a couple days. Not horribly, but you notice it with pics. You dont notice if youre just reading a song or album description.
In short, it works as advertised, it its just what I needed.
On: 2005-09-28
Awesome MP3 Player.
Ive been using this for the past 4 months. Wanted to write a review after using it for sometime. It has very good quality audio output. It has high speed hard disk (7200 rpm) which is really great. The photos can be browsed so easily...the click wheel makes it really easy!! Overall its a great product to own.
Easy to carry and transfer data.
On: 2005-09-27
I think that the 60GB iPod model is really great, as you can back your hard drive up to it and still have room for music, but I was surprised to see the price listed on this website. This site listed the price for the 60GB color iPod as 450USD, but the official Apple price is only 400USD, and the student price is 370USD.
Somethings wrong with either the information or the ethics here.
 On: 2005-08-21
I love to listen to them as I drive. I download 2 more books per month from my Audible subscription, and the average book is over 10 hours long. I have been using a very small mp3 player called audible otis. It has worked for me for years, but only holds about half a book. I saved up and invested in the 60 gig I-Pod so that I could carry all my books with me. It works marvelously for the books. I loaded almost 10 gigs in less than a half hour. Listening to the books is very enjoyable, as you can move through chapters easily. The volume adjustment is intuitive without even looking at the machine. There is plenty of volume for driving, even in my noisy jeep. I can also listen at night as there is a nifty sleep timer. I have not even played with the I-pods ability to load and show digital pictures, but I look forward to that feature also. I took other reviewers advice and added a nice leather cover to keep my new machine from scratching. I hope to add a car charger and the gadget that lets you listen to the I-pod through your car radio soon. Now the negative, my first I-pod only lasted 5 days. After 5 days, during which I babied it like a new child, the menu feature quit working. It was impossible to use the whole top of the click wheel. I returned it to Best Buy and asked if they got a lot of returns. They said that I-pods come back frequently. I am really glad that I bought it at Best Buy with the 3 year warranty as I am now really worried about long term reliability. If I had purchased the machine from the Apple site, I would have had to send it back in the first week. Best Buy agreed to give my 10% educational discount, so the price was the same at the store as at the web site. When it broke, they gave me a new one on the spot. The machine must be sent back to the factory to have the battery replaced, and the cost is around $80.00, so the warranty will pay for itself if the battery quits holding its charge once during the first 3 years. Am I sorry I bought it? Nope! It is so great to have all my books to choose from, that I will probably always have an I-pod. I hope that long term reliability will not be an issue, but the fun of having it will keep me coming back even if I do have some problems. I might even try music at some point LOL.
 On: 2005-08-19
Let me get one thing straight: I love my ipod. I dont think theres a better mp3 player currently on the market.
That said, I think Apple has been lazy to truly innovate. They keep adding capacity to the hard drive, and making small feature improvements/bug fixes, but essentially theyre coasting on past success.
But, on to my review. The reason I only gave the 60 gig ipod photo 3 stars is because I think Apple failed to realize the consequences that having 60 gigs of space will have on users.
With 60 gigs of music/photos (Ill be writing primarily about music) users needs change. Its incredibly difficult to manage that much music. The hard drive tends to be a bit slow when its spinning across thousands of songs or photos to find just what you want (considering the size of this thing, though, its impressive--but hey, were spoiled).
What I want more than anytyhing is the ability to easily add a song to a playlist while listening to it. Sure, you can go back to the list of songs and add it to the "on the go" playlist, but thats not good enough. I want to shuffle through all my music and assign the songs to playlists while I listen. I dont think thats too much to ask, and I think its the only logical way for anybody to manage that much music without sitting in front of their computer for hours.
Who knows, maybe Apple in all their infinite wisdom and mercy will find it in their hearts to offer such a feature.
On: 2005-08-07
I can understand why everybody wants an iPod; it represents the ultimate modern accessory, embodying the principles of design and functionality in one iconic device. What I cannot understand is why anyone would get the iPod mini or 20GB iPod when there is the 60GB photo iPod available.
Getting 60GB version is a great way to guarantee that youll have enough storage space to hold a lifetimes worth of music. And dont forget the photo capabilities. You can convert all your old photo albums into digital archives on the iPod photo and display slide shows on TV for your friends and family via the easy-to-use video out jack. Its a cant miss!
So my advice is dont waste time with those smaller iPods--go for the big daddy!
by: Anonymous On: 2005-07-22
Yea, I got this item awhile ago and it was cool and everything until it started to do wierd things, like freeze for a few seconds. Right now it is totally frozen and Im pissed off. It has been frozen for two hours. Im waiting for the battery to die right now. Ill probably get rid of it soon.
On: 2005-07-12
The first ever MP3 player I purchased was a 128MB flash MP3 player from Rio back in 1999. Its interface was buggy and never interacted with my computer properly. When Apple came out with the iPod, I was ecstatic, only to find out that it was compatible with Macs only. I had been watching the now defunct TechTV for years and only heard praise after praise for this disk-based MP3 player. I knew that regardless of how many PC compatible clones came out, I would get the iPod someday.
That day was June 3, 2005 (unfortunately for me, about a week before the price drop). I had been using iTunes to download and listen to music for about a year now, switching to it after my computer crashed yet again.
The iPod was singly the best purchase Ive ever made. It, along with a radio tuner accessory, have gone with me everywhere. I recommend this product for anyone wanting an easy and convenient way to bring a months worth of music with them and have it available on the fly! (And Im only using about half of the drive space!) This is a must buy!
On: 2005-06-15
I bought my first Ipod for my wife birthday gift and was stunning with the amazing exclusive shape of the product. I can say this product has been well manufactured. It is really beautiful & looks expensive. Mine comes with craddle, power adapter, A/V cables, firewire cable & usb2 cable (60GB Ipod Photo,1st edition). Great deal for $389(shipped).I dont think this product different than the 2nd generation ipod photo. the only different is the packages that comes with ipod (much better on 1st generation) & the ipod firmware. The firmware itself is upgradeable and very easy to do it. You can store all photos, songs, even you can use this machine as portable hard drive to store any type of files. Some review said this machine can only be used for 1 computer only and I found this is not true. you just have to play with it for a while. Simply Great product & worth of penny!
On: 2005-06-04
There are a lot of great reviews on this post, describing the functionality, pros and cons, etc., that I wont be repetitive. Ive decided to share my personal testimony on the 60.
Ive been on the fence with the entire iPod series since its introduction. It wasnt until 2/05 when I finally took the hit with the 20 gig iPod. Once getting it home and syncing the unit to my Apple G4 (via iTunes), I began uploading all my CDs until I realized that I was starting to get the fever for what the iPod was beginning to do . . . CHANGE MY LIFE and the way I would listening to MUSIC forever.
I slept on it for that initial night and I couldnt help but to realize that 20 gigs wouldnt be enough for what I was getting myself into. Instantly I packed up my 20 gig iPod and headed for the apple store for a quick return and upgrade to its big sibling 60 gig iPod photo. As I hinted before, I was that consumer that despised forking out $300 for the 20 gig but once I understood what meaning and functionality these units would play into my needs . . . it wasnt no thing to pay the difference on the upgrade to the 60 gig. The expression on the sales associate when he said to me "Oh, it didnt work out for you . . ." and I replied, "Well it actually did but . . . I NEED MORE SPACE", "Give me the biggest iPod you have"!!! What an expression he had, quite funny.
At that time I paid $599, but with the current price reduction this creates a whole new temptation for those of you who havent acquired one yet!
I use my iPod for various applications and its versatility is amazing. Its my jogging partner, my continuous music playing at home, my business sidekick when I take music business meetings. Thats the coolest part because prior to the iPod, Ive always had tons of CDs and artist pictures/promos in my attaché case. Now before I walk into an executives office I will brief them that I will bring my iPod Photo to display songs, tracks, and pictures . . . and theyre happy to say just plug in and lets hear what you have and lets see the pictures of artist Im producing or managing.
With the iPod Photo being a hard drive, Ive had the ability to transfer and backup Pro Tools sessions and omit providing several DVD-Rs to the engineer.
Along side my activity in music business, I also play in several bands. With the iPod on my hip, Ive taking last minute gigs as a substitute that I wasnt quite sure of the music and will listen to the tunes with one ear bud in on stage, or listen to recorded practices. Ive played piano for many open mic nights and I cant list how many people who asked me do I know this song or that . . . I simply say to them "I have my iPod and that album, let me listen to it real quick". Very nifty!
I havent showcased to my family yet, but Im looking forward to this years gatherings to display our family pictures via connecting my iPod to grannys television. Showing pictures (in slideshow format) archived on my iPod I have the option to play some of my familys favorite tunes simultaneously.
I can go on and on with how my iPod fits into my daily regiment but Ill end with this last note. The iPod and iTunes has provided a way for me to continue studying music history, for instant Ive purchased more music CDs or downloaded music in the iTunes music store. Sometimes we hear something on the radio were not familiar with or forgot about one of those songs we adored as a youngster. I believe I have to tools to research and collect the music I enjoy or even an artist I havent tapped into yet . . . I can import their selections on my iPod and listen to it in any environment to become accustomed to their music.
Im a proud owner of the 60 GB iPod photo and Im currently at 10,000 songs. The moment I max out the 60 (probably in a few months) I hope Apple release a 100 GB iPod. If not Ill just purchase another 60.
On: 2005-06-01
When Apple first released this 60gb ipod it was $599. They came out w/ a newer model 60gb for $449 but they striped out about $70 in accessories (dock, some cables, etc) This deal is for the old $599 release marked to $399 - its a great bargain on a great ipod.
very happy w/ my purchase. This is the 2nd ipod ive bought, and both times amazon has had the best deal.
On: 2005-05-19
I just got my new 60GB iPod Photo (soon to be renamed iPod color so I am told) and I must say that I am absolutely ecstatic about this thing. Sure its a few millimeters thicker than the 30GB but for the extra capacity you will be far happier with this one, trust me!
My only gripe is that the boffins at Apple didnt think to put a protective screen film on as they have with the click wheel. Get a protective case the moment you open this thing (preferably before you open it!) as it marks-up really easily.
by: Anonymous On: 2005-04-26
Dont make the same mistake I did! I signed up for one of those get-iPod-free "offers" that are continually being posted here.
Within one day, I received over 200 spam emails and 15 telemarketing calls. What a pain. I guess there really is something to the saying "you cant get something for nothing".
I hope everybody here will learn from my extremely bad experience and avoid these ridiculous pyramid schemes.
The 60Gb iPod Photo is a great gadget. Its too bad theyre being used as bait by unethical people.
On: 2005-04-21
Well, let me start by saying that this is a very good product. But it is FAR from perfect. I have many complaints, often quite petty (after all, this is my first iPod), but for the $500 or so price tag I expect CLOSE to perfect...
Quibbles:
1. You cant load pictures directly from the camera/memory card onto the iPod. Or, rather, you cant view photos loaded directly. In order to view photos, they must be moved to your computer and loaded through the iPhoto software. This is a MAJOR dissapointment for anyone travelling with their iPod and camera.
2. The (necessary) iTunes software is not compatible with Windows 98 or ME. Devastating to those of us with older computers full of MP3s.
3. The iTunes software is constantly redirecting me to their store. Very obnoxious.
4. I firmly believe that any product that costs me over a weeks salary should come with all the necessary accessories. Noticably absent: a carrying case (if you dont want it severely scratched), flash card reader, fire wire, decent headphones, etc. etc. All told, be ready to sink another hundred (or three...) on "fun add-ons".
5. Could they not add some better games?? My cell phone has way better games than this. My TI-83 calculator (yeah, I was a bit of a nerd in high school) had better games than this. What a waste of a color screen...
Complaints aside, the iPod still rocks. The sound quality and design are unsurpassed; the software and database style song sorting are strong - there are clear reasons why the iPod is becoming a cultural icon of the digital age. But, given the price and potential for improvement, I wish Id waited for a better version.
On: 2005-04-05
I love it! I absolutely love it! Getting an iPod Photo 60 GB has given me a chance to listen to CDs that I havent heard in years, because they were buried away in one of many CaseLogic CD cases that I have in my closet.
For those of you who have collected thousands of CDs ranging from multiple genres, this is definitely the iPod for you. Not only is it adorable and easy to use, but it affords access to thousands of songs within seconds, making it easier to peruse your collection with ease.
One thing I found surprising is how quickly the memory gets filled up. Ive only uploaded a fraction of my collection, and I am already at almost 15 GB of music. If I had opted for a smaller "thinner" 30 GB iPod, I would be sweating bullets unnecessarily right now, since I would have to have to choose which of my many albums do I "really like." The iPod Photo 60 avoids all of that because there is enough memory to digitize your entire collection and actually use it.
One complaint that many iPod photo users have is that the ipod is too thick for a normal case. Well, um, whoop-ti-doo. You make choices in life, and I think an extra millimeter or two of thickness is well worth the chance to upload 30 GB more music.
All in all, I love it and highly recommend it to music lovers!
On: 2005-04-04
I love it! I absolutely love it! Getting an iPod Photo 60 GB has given me a chance to listen to CDs that I havent heard in years, because they were buried away in one of many CaseLogic CD cases that I have in my closet.
For those of you who have collected thousands of CDs ranging from multiple genres, this is definitely the iPod for you. Not only is it adorable and easy to use, but it affords access to thousands of songs within seconds, making it easier to peruse your collection with ease.
One thing I found surprising is how quickly the memory gets filled up. Ive only uploaded a fraction of my collection, and I am already at almost 15 GB of music. If I had opted for a smaller "thinner" 30 GB iPod, I would be sweating bullets unnecessarily right now, since I would have to have to choose which of my many albums do I "really like." The iPod Photo 60 avoids all of that because there is enough memory to digitize your entire collection and actually use it.
One complaint that many iPod photo users have is that the ipod is too thick for a normal case. Well, um, whoop-ti-doo. You make choices in life, and I think an extra millimeter or two of thickness is well worth the chance to upload 30 GB more music.
All in all, I love it and highly recommend it to music lovers!
On: 2005-04-01
First things first. Its expensive. So the question becomes, are you getting your moneys worth? If you travel a lot on business, or always seem to need music where ever you go, an Ipod has become essential. But do you need this one? This version (I upgraded from the 20 GB) seems to give me more than twice the battery power, around 12 or 13 straight hours. Few people are going to have 60 GBs of music, unless say, youre Moby or prefer never hearing the same song twice. The key here is using the photo option. Most useful part - youre traveling, your camera is full, you dont want to lose those photos, you just download them straight into your iPod and start snapping again. But theres the downer ... Apple want you to shell out another $30 for the little white doodad that lets you download from camera to iPod. It really wouldnt have killed them to include it, rather than, say, another freaking pair of average headphones. In the end, I guess I think of this as an extravagance. Viewing the photos is easy, the quality isnt particularly good and if you want to see the photos, youve got to stop listening to music (a pain). However, the color screen is easy on the eyes. If it was a $300 investment, Id say, dont think twice. At this price, you better be triggy happy with a camera and not be able to move without music.
On: 2005-04-01
Just purchase my new 60GB ipod photo. Also my 1st apple product. For the past 4 years I have owned several MP3 players, the diamond RIO 500 and the RIO Karma.
My system is windows XP, so I dont get the full features that a MAC user would get. The software (itunes) is o.k. not as good and the Rio music manager.
The ipod lacks a feature to allow you to play only the songs you have just added. This feature allows you to choose the time or number of days since you added new songs, and it plays only those added within the specified time period. With almost 400 songs on my Rio, this is a nice feature.
The ipod also lacks a graphic equalizer, although it features several EQ modes, you cannot taylor your own as I would like to. In the photo mode, the ipod does not rise to the level of what you paid. For almost $500 bucks, the picture quality needs to be much, much, much better.
Also I cannot get the picture sync (pulse with the music) feature to work. Perhaps under the macOSX software it may.
The controls are somewhat intutive, but not quite user friendly as the Rio Karma. There are too many menus in the ipod and one can easily get lost, however the "now playomg" feature is a nice touch.
The ipod sounds a bit better than the Rio Karma, the bass is a bit smoother, but with highly compressed MP3 files and Mark Levinson reference electronics as my comparison, both players sound pretty bad. The color screen is a nice touch, but some visualization (such as with real player) would be great while your are listening.
The ipod photo does not come with a docking station, thats extra. For $450.00 it should. The Rio Karma comes with a docking station, ethernet and USB connections, limited mono graphics display a great software package and a 20GB HDD for under $300.00
Why did I buy the ipod, I droipped my Rio on the bathroom floor. It survived, but it needs some repair.
All in all, the ipod photo 60GB is a great toy. I wish it was offered in more colors other than white, but for the money, around $450.00, I would consider some of the newer MP3,video players out there. The Samsubg looks great and so does the Creative Zen and the new m:robe player. My rating for this product is 3.5 stars.
I am considering purchasing a Imac mini so that I can take full use of the Ipod photo, but thats another $500.0 bucks that Im sure I want to spend.
D. Cooper II
by: Anonymous On: 2005-03-28
Lets face it, you cant get something for nothing!
The San Francisco Chronicle recently exposed the real story behind the so-called "offers" that are continually being posted here.
Do a search on Google or on sfgate.com for "iPod not really free David Lazarus" and you will see what the con artists running these programs are really up to.
In a nutshell, its just another way for spammers and other sleazy people to steal your personal information.
On: 2005-03-27
I actually bought the 60 gig model and was happy witht he unit as an mp3 player it is good. Unfortunately there are a lot of good mp3 players out there now. I bought the photo for just that the ability to store and show off photos as well as use the device to import photos so I could continue to snap shots. THis is where the device really lacks even with the more arttractive price. Importing photos now requires apples(NOT Belekins) $30 camera adapter. You can copy photos to the device but you cannot view them until you hook them into a computer. The device comes with no slide show software at all not even I-photo. And dont think you can use the iphoto that came with your mac you will need to pay $80 for i-life to get a compatible version. Pc users have it a little better Adobe album will do the trick for only $50. If you have a mac that doesnt have usb 2.0 your tranfer speeds will be very slow as mac no longer supplies you with a firewire cable. YOu can buy one from mac for only $30 more. Another thing you might want to do is to show your photos on a television this will cost an aditional $30 for the apple avi cable. but wait theres more to buy for your pricey player the unit scratches very easily both front and back. so before touching it buy a case for it $10-20 more and you may be safe for a while. The headphones have a poor range and need to be replaced so plan on shelling out another $20-30 that should pretty much do it unless you wnat to do anything else. Apple always has an accessory for your ipod the problem is they are all pricey and the unit itself does not do much more than play music. The screen is small and although the scroll wheel is nice it can be overly sensitive when trying to use the buttons. I had it for 2-3 weeks and it is going back tommorrow and I am replacing it with an archos unit. Its a half inch wider and taller and costs a bit more but it has a larger screen, Plays video, Has a compact flash port, is a pvr,comes with software, has a larger hard drive, and comes with all the neccessary cables I need to make it do the amazing things it should. I am tired of apple touting itself as the next great thing the knight on the white horse. I tried to buy into it all I really did but after this purchase I am through. If you thought microsoft was bad think dirfferent and youll find out where evil really lurks.
On: 2005-02-28
The iPod Photo is great, dont get me wrong, but the outrageous price isnt worth the O.K features. Lets face it, the color screen is nice and the album art viewing is fine - but $600 for a MP3 player, Cmon! No one needs 60 GB of storage, when Apple comes out with a 20 GB Photo model for less than $325, call me. Ill be first in line!
On: 2005-02-24
**** LATEST update to iPod family ****
- iPod & iPod photo lines merged; no more iPod photo 30 GB
- iPod comes in two capacities - 20 GB ($299), 60 GB ($399) with color screen & photo support
- U2 iPod (20 GB) down to $329 from $349 - with color screen & photo support
- iPod shuffle 1 GB down to $129 from $149
- iPod 60 GB down to $399 from $449
- new version of iTunes (4.9) that support podcasts
***************************************
Today (23 Feb 2005), Apple announced a major change in its iPod lineup and here is how it affects iPod photo models:
> iPod 40 GB is discontinued
> iPod photo 40 GB is discontinued
> iPod photo 30 GB (new product) replaces the 40 GB iPod photo and the regular iPod 40 GB
> iPod photo 60 GB now costs $150 less -- $449 instead of $599
> iPod photo 30 GB costs $349 ($150 less than iPod photo 40 GB and $50 less than regular iPod 40 GB)
> iPod dock ($39), AV cable ($19), carrying case ($29), and firewire cable ($19) do not ship with iPod photo (you may not really need them)
> Now we get three things with iPod photo: earphones, USB (not firewire) based AC adapter, USB 2.0 cable
> In additon to the above, a firewire cable continues to ship with iPod 20 GB & iPod U2 edition
> iPod photo Camera Connector is introduced - this can be used for connecting your digital camera directly to the iPod
Since I have iPod 40 GB as well as iPod photo 60 GB, I strongly recommend iPod photo for those who are looking beyond the iPod 20 GB. The color screen has much better resolution and it also has a scrolling feature for long texts.
On: 2005-02-22
Elegant uncluttered design and the profoundly smooth, simple & intuitive clickwheel operation of Apples iPod are the main reasons for the phenomenol success of these electronic marvels.
I now have much of my extensive music library---covering most of the past century---packed into a device the size of a deck of playing cards, and any piece of music can be accessed in seconds with the touch of a fingertip.
I keep the iPod connected to my Bose Wave Radio and usually have it random playing selections from the entire library, and because the unit is also plugged into the power adapter most of the time, it stays fully charged.
To my ears the iPod sounds every bit as good as my CDs, and the seemingly endless variety of music you can put into the 60GB model makes the listening experience incomparable to any radio station---which must comform to some narrow format or limited programming formula that caters to the interests of marketeers or sponsors---and I have no commercials!
My ever growing 1200+ CD collection spans the entire history of recorded music, including almost every genre imaginable, from Mississippi Delta Blues through Jazz, Folk, Big Band, Swing, Western Swing, R&B, Pop, Rock, Punk, Reggae, Hawaiian Slack Key, Country, Classical, New Age, Hip-Hop, and even a large eclectic selection of World Music from throughout the 20th Century.
Its educational, rewarding and way fun to have access to a huge variety of music like this, but its not much fun to dig through the collection for countless numbers of recorded gems that some visiting listeners might want to hear and then have to put all the CDs back after the partys over.
The breadth of my collection can now be shared effortlessly with my friends and family, and my wife says shes never before fully appreciated the beautiful diversity of the recordings weve acquired over the years.
I wont go into the technical details of the iPod because there are much more qualified individuals than I to write about that. But I will say that the iTunes software that comes with the device is full of useful features and very easy to use. Installation of the software was simple, updating the iPod is almost effortless, and the iPod seems to be of very high quality construction and quite reliable thus far. It does take time to download your music into the computer but Ive found the effort well worth it. I didnt buy the iPod for the slideshow aspect of its photo capabilities, but I did want the ability to display the album art from each CD on the great looking color screen.
Ive had the iPod for about two months and have downloaded just over 7,000 songs into it (including the CD art for each song). These 7,000 songs, culled from 797 albums so far, represent 1,410 artists covering 33 genres, and take up just 24.67GBs of the near 60GB capacity of the iPod. It looks like Ill be able to load over 14,000 songs, with artwork, into this extremely cool gadget.
With the included iTunes software you also have easy access to the hundreds of thousands of tunes available at the iTunes store for 99 cents apiece, which includes the CD art as well. And, you are not limited to purchasing your music from iTunes, you can also import music files from Napster and many other web sources.
I have no complaints whatsoever about this amazing little box and highly recommend it to anyone who might want to condense their huge music library into a very small, easy to use portable device.
Jim Otterstrom
On: 2005-01-23
Ive owned the ipod photo for a month now, and i realized that this unit is too expensive for its features. The only thing this Ipod can do is for viewing photos and listening to music. I am now looking onto the Archos Gmini 400, which has memory card reader, photo, video, music, and gameplay all in one for a little over half the price of this ipod. This Ipod Photo is way too expensive for the petty features. Get the Archos Gmini 400 instead.
On: 2004-12-28
The iPod has to be the greatest invention of the 21st century (so far)... absolutely brilliant. Perfect style and function. Of course, noone really needed more than 40GB so the marketing geniuses at Apple had to come up with a need to use more storage space. Pictures is the perfect answer! Im looking forward to the generation that has internet access and can be used as a cell phone!
On: 2004-12-14
if you want an ipod that is brand new and has a color screen and can hold up to 15,000 songs and 25,000 pictures this ipod is the way to go. 60gb is huge storage capacity for any mp3 player! i needed an ipod because i wanted something light so when i run i can listen to music without the thing falling off in the middle of the jog. so i went to a store and they told me that ipod has a new photo ipod out. i either was going to buy 40gb or this 60gb; i went all out and bought this one. i spent $600.00 on this but i dont regret it. apple has the best mp3 players on the market and this one is just so cool! ipod mini sucks and it seems that everyone has it! the regular ones are just plain boring! get this one and you wont be dissappointed. i love itunes too (dont download illegally!)
On: 2004-12-11
I never owned an ipod before so can you imagine how thrilled I am to have all my music, photos, personal contacts, calendar, and even a sleep timer and alarm clock all in one! This thing is wonderful! I am using it with a Monster iCarPlay to transmit tunes to my car stereo and that works wonderfully as well. I woke up this morning to my own music playing on the iPod. Life with an ipod is grand!
 On: 2004-11-26
I purchased this item from my local dealer and was disappointed for 2 big reasons. #1 The device does not allow one to listen to music which flipping through photos. I thought this would be an obvious inclusion!! #2 There are no memory card slots to easily upload pictures from ones digital camera (most people that are travelling dont their pcs with them). Needless to say I returned the product and will be empty handed on the subway until Apple "fixes" these issues.
On: 2004-11-08
iPod business model
-------------------
What makes iPod a successful product? Its plain and simple - Apple has come up with an intelligent business model; sell music through the internet and use iPod as the "portable nexus" for easy access to our music in an organized manner. I think the toughest challenge that Apple has is to convince people that iTunes and iPod combination works. A lot of people like to buy cds - they want to have them in their own hands. Who doesnt? You get the cd and the cover art. That is the marketing tool of the music business and it has been working for a long time. At the end, that is how they justify the prices that they chargd on those music (average about $11 to $15 per cd for a standard album). I once belong to this group but the following reasons justify why I no longer want to buy cds... and to own an iPod.
Advantages
----------
1. Reduce Clutter
We have enough clutter in our house/life and cds dont help us to organize things better - we keep accumulating them. At some point, I said to myself, "Alright, this is it. I have to stop accumulating these cds." But at the same thing, we want to keep listening to new music. Thats when Apple came to the rescue - by allowing me to store music in digital format. Thank god iPods dont get "fatter" as we store more music into it.
2. Portability
I am sick of carrying cds with me wherever I go. To make matter worse, I am good at scratching cds - I cannot help it. Hence, iPod totally eliminates my problem. Secondly, I own Bose SoundDock. Hence, I just dock an play! In the long run, I do not see a reason for me to buy huge audio equipment/speakers. I am just going to buy some more Bose SoundDocks and station them everywhere. As you can tell, I am not a big fan of earphones - I think they can do a permanent damage to your hearing down the road.
3. Album Prices
All album prices at Apple is set at $9.99. I love it - it will save me time from running to the stores and buying the cds and it also reduces "impulse buying at the store" to some degree ;). To top it all, it saves me money from spending $4 extra bucks at the music stores on a cd. Sometimes, I dont want to buy the whole album - iTunes thus gives us an option to buy one song for $.99.
4. Sleek design
One of the greatest thing about Apple products is their intuitive design(I am an Windows user but I admire Apples creativity when it comes to this). The intuitiveness of Click Wheel is natural. Here is an example; a colleague of mind never used an iPod. She picked it up and start to listen to the song. She asked me,"How do you increase the volume on this thing?" 2 seconds later she said, "Whoaa! Never mind." Thats how intuitive it is(youll figure it out ;)). You can also attach album cover image to each album. I thought that was pretty cool although it takes up some space to store those images.
5. Organization
iPod allows you to customize your music by genres, albums, songs, and artists etc. After storing all your song collections into iPod, you can start using the playlist and smart playlist features in iTunes. Playlist simply allows you to organize your music using any theme, i.e. workout songs etc. Interestingly enough, smart playlist allows you to defines criteria so you can have a unique playlist without manually dragging songs into your playlist. For instance, you can say, "add songs to this list with an artist that has the name Maynard in it but the genre is not Metal." As a result, if you have albums where artists name is Maynard, excluding the albums with the Metal genre, iTunes will intelligently find all the songs that match the criteria in your jukebox and add it to the list. You have an option of whether to add the songs to the list as more albums are stored in your iPod or you can just commit it at that point. I think that is revolutionary (although not new to programmers that have been using this feature in their programming lives).
One thing to be concerned about
-------------------------------
1. Connector(Attachment)
I have been very careful attaching a monitor cable to the back of a computer. It so easy to bend those pins. I take the same measure with my iPod. Everytime I dock it, either to iPod docking station or Bose sounddock, I have the fear that the connector pins are going to get broken. That will be bad. Hence, be very gentle when you dock your iPod - dont force it in.
Awkwardness
-------
1. Music during exercise
During exercise, I found it awkward to strap the iPod to my arm. Its kind of big compared to some other players like Rio. Hence, I usually dock it to my Bose sounddock.
Advice
------
1. Get extended Warranty
Remember, iPod uses a hard drive. If you like me who always drop things, get the extended warranty. It will save you some griefs in the future.
2. Defragment your iPod(Is it a good idea?)
Fragmentation happens when you add/delete individual songs/albums from the pod itself. If you do that often, use iPod update to restore the content to your iPod. I dont recommend messing around with a defragmenter.
3. Backup your harddrive
Always backup your harddrive especially if you buy music online and not planning to burn any backup cds. An investment on tape backup is worthwhile if you decided to purchase al music from iTunes.
4. Get a nice iPod protector
Its easy to scratch an iPod, especially the part in the back. Hence, use a protector case.
All in all, I realize this is iPod photo - that you can store photos and display them among other things. This idea hasnt grown in me yet. But I am sure when I start traveling, I will start using this feature.
Spending $599 on an iPod is a lot. Make sure you have your reasons to justify it. Like Suze Orman said,"The reason why we keep buying things is because of the fear that we dont have that item. Once we have that item, the fear is gone because we have the physical item. Alas, we stop using the item because the fear is now gone! Dont spend money because of this reason alone - make sure you see your purchases as an investment. Enjoy!
On: 2004-11-07
iPod business model
-------------------
What makes iPod a successful product? Its plain and simple - Apple has come up with an intelligent business model; sell music through the internet and use iPod as the "portable nexus" for easy access to our music in an organized manner. I think the toughest challenge that Apple has is to convince people that iTunes and iPod combination works. A lot of people like to buy cds - they want to have them in their own hands. Who doesnt? You get the cd and the cover art. That is the marketing tool of the music business and it has been working for a long time. At the end, that is how they justify the prices that they chargd on those music (average about $11 to $15 per cd for a standard album). I once belong to this group but the following reasons justify why I no longer want to buy cds... and to own an iPod.
Advantages
----------
1. Reduce Clutter
We have enough clutter in our house/life and cds dont help us to organize things better - we keep accumulating them. At some point, I said to myself, "Alright, this is it. I have to stop accumulating these cds." But at the same thing, we want to keep listening to new music. Thats when Apple came to the rescue - by allowing me to store music in digital format. Thank god iPods dont get "fatter" as we store more music into it.
2. Portability
I am sick of carrying cds with me wherever I go. To make matter worse, I am good at scratching cds - I cannot help it. Hence, iPod totally eliminates my problem. Secondly, I own Bose SoundDock. Hence, I just dock an play! In the long run, I do not see a reason for me to buy huge audio equipment/speakers. I am just going to buy some more Bose SoundDocks and station them everywhere. As you can tell, I am not a big fan of earphones - I think they can do a permanent damage to your hearing down the road.
3. Album Prices
All album prices at Apple is set at $9.99. I love it - it will save me time from running to the stores and buying the cds and it also reduces "impulse buying at the store" to some degree ;). To top it all, it saves me money from spending $4 extra bucks at the music stores on a cd. Sometimes, I dont want to buy the whole album - iTunes thus gives us an option to buy one song for $.99.
4. Sleek design
One of the greatest thing about Apple products is their intuitive design(I am an Windows user but I admire Apples creativity when it comes to this). The intuitiveness of Click Wheel is natural. Here is an example; a colleague of mind never used an iPod. She picked it up and start to listen to the song. She asked me,"How do you increase the volume on this thing?" 2 seconds later she said, "Whoaa! Never mind." Thats how intuitive it is(youll figure it out ;)). You can also attach album cover image to each album. I thought that was pretty cool although it takes up some space to store those images.
5. Organization
iPod allows you to customize your music by genres, albums, songs, and artists etc. After storing all your song collections into iPod, you can start using the playlist and smart playlist features in iTunes. Playlist simply allows you to organize your music using any theme, i.e. workout songs etc. Interestingly enough, smart playlist allows you to defines criteria so you can have a unique playlist without manually dragging songs into your playlist. For instance, you can say, "add songs to this list with an artist that has the name Maynard in it but the genre is not Metal." As a result, if you have albums where artists name is Maynard, excluding the albums with the Metal genre, iTunes will intelligently find all the songs that match the criteria in your jukebox and add it to the list. You have an option of whether to add the songs to the list as more albums are stored in your iPod or you can just commit it at that point. I think that is revolutionary (although not new to programmers that have been using this feature in their programming lives).
One thing to be concerned about
-------------------------------
1. Connector(Attachment)
I have been very careful attaching a monitor cable to the back of a computer. It so easy to bend those pins. I take the same measure with my iPod. Everytime I dock it, either to iPod docking station or Bose sounddock, I have the fear that the connector pins are going to get broken. That will be bad. Hence, be very gentle when you dock your iPod - dont force it in.
Awkwardness
-------
1. Music during exercise
During exercise, I found it awkward to strap the iPod to my arm. Its kind of big compared to some other players like Rio. Hence, I usually dock it to my Bose sounddock.
Advice
------
1. Get extended Warranty
Remember, iPod uses a hard drive. If you like me who always drop things, get the extended warranty. It will save you some griefs in the future.
2. Defragment your iPod(Is it a good idea?)
Fragmentation happens when you add/delete individual songs/albums from the pod itself. If you do that often, use iPod update to restore the content to your iPod. I dont recommend messing around with a defragmenter.
3. Backup your harddrive
Always backup your harddrive especially if you buy music online and not planning to burn any backup cds. An investment on tape backup is worthwhile if you decided to purchase al music from iTunes.
4. Get a nice iPod protector
Its easy to scratch an iPod, especially the part in the back. Hence, use a protector case.
All in all, I realize this is iPod photo - that you can store photos and display them among other things. This idea hasnt grown in me yet. But I am sure when I start traveling, I will start using this feature.
Spending $599 on an iPod is a lot. Make sure you have your reasons to justify it. Like Suze Orman said,"The reason why we keep buying things is because of the fear that we dont have that item. Once we have that item, the fear is gone because we have the physical item. Alas, we stop using the item because the fear is now gone! Dont spend money because of this reason alone - make sure you see your purchases as an investment. Enjoy!
On: 2004-11-01
Yes, unlike other reviewers, I do own a 40gig iPod Photo (as of 10/04)... and yes I do also own a regular 3G 15gig iPod (plus Im not pushing IP Address harvesting scams like the "free iPod" reviews)... so this was quite an expensive UPGRADE decision for me...so this review is geared towards those struggling with an upgrade decision (for those who own a smaller/lighter 10-20gig music iPod)...I own both PC and Mac formats.
1) BOTTOM LINE: Although \\very, very\\ cool, I do not believe the trade-offs between the large size/weight and photo capability & extra battery life... are worth the enormous price (which includes a software purchase). Yes my 4 star rating is entirely based on how much incremental "stuff" you get versus what you have to fork over. But if money is not an object and you already own the larger/heavier 40gig variety, this becomes a "NO-BRAINER" upgrade - the `wow factor is huge. If you travel quite a bit for business like I do, this is also a good addition to keep you company during trips.
2) PHOTO QUALITY: Good to "pretty good".. but not excellent... I do realize the size of the screen is only 2 inches, but photos tend to be slightly pixilated, even the full resolution ones that are over 2mb (though you stop noticing after a minute) and color reproduction is not all that great on skin tones and deep reds, but very good w/ greens&blues... which make pics of landscapes quite nice!
3) PHOTOS ON MY TV: Now this is where this thing shines... this is a really cool feature... the iPod includes a mini-plug-to-RCA-out (headphone to 3 pronged yellow/white/red) that produces cool results when you plug it into your TV.. you can scroll through your photos on your big (or at least bigger than your computer screen) TV screen. However, having only 2800+ photos on my iPod (thats more than avg), I got tired of flipping through & showing off my albums in about 2 days...
4) MUSIC: Besides not being able to see the screen as well w/out the backlight, its the same as any click-wheel, 4G iPod.
5) SIZE/WEIGHT: If you already own a 40gig variety, you wont have much to complain about... but if you have a 10-20gig iPod, you will add more size and weight to your pocket (or bag). Moving from a 3G 15gig, this difference \\to me\\ is significant, as my iPod usually resides in my jacket pocket.
6) COSMETIC CHANGES: None on the outside, still scratches as easily as the rest, but has a color screen w/ a new font and screen looks very dark w/out the backlight.
7) BATTERY LIFE: Conditional based on the user... i never trust battery reviews on websites, as they vary DRASTICALLY when I employ my personal uses to the device. However, so far it seems to run near spec during mixed use... and much longer than my 3G iPod.
== SURPRISES OUT OF THE BOX==
A) NEED TO BUY SOFTWARE: In order to enable the cooler features - like syncing albums automatically, etc..., you need to purchase or own iLife (iPhoto specifically) 4.03 or better (if you are the rare few that bought your computer in the last few months w/ 4.0, you still have to download an upgrade to 4.03) ... Now I bought my iMac from the Apple website last Christmas and it still shipped w/ iLife 2.0... so I had to purchase iLife 4.0 (according to several company reps, there is no free upgrade from the jump from 2.0 to 4.0)...which took me an additional day to figure out... Yes, you can assign folders and such to sync to your photos to your iPod, BUT having an album editor enables full control of changes and what changes Im making, to the entire process. Oh Yeah, you need a high version of iTunes as well; my pod came w/ ver. 4.7... IMHO, you \\need\\ the iPhoto upgrade to enjoy this purchase.
B) TRANSITIONS: Only the "wipe" from right-to-left is included, maybe more will be avail in the future, but you are not given a choice.
C) SLIDESHOWS: You cannot assign multiple music lists in iTunes to specific albums in iPhoto... as of 10/04, you can only assign a SINGLE music list to ALL photo albums when you enable the slideshow feature. Yes, you can change this music list, but need to go back to the menu to do so. Also, you can only display-to-TV in slideshow mode; you cant just flip through your albums in browse mode through your TV.
D) COLOR SCREEN: When not backlit, the screen during regular music playback turns \\VERY\\ dark, much more so than regular B&W iPods... you need a light source reflecting off of the screen in order to see the letters... typeface has changed too, more like "Arial" and slightly smaller. Oh yeah, with the backlight off, the screen still displays in color.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
A) You cannot adjust the color quality, size, cropping or transitions of the photos when detached from your computer, so dont bother asking a apple representative on the phone or at the store- they dont make enough money to actually buy one themselves. Ive tried two different stores the NY area.
B) Both the 40/60gig packages come w/ an iPod dock (if you dont have one already), but like the old ones, do not allow for use w/ thick iPod skins and covers.
C) Comes with an iPod dock WITH a S-Video output (new) and a solo USB 2.0 cord (finally!).
D) Yes, this is thicker and heavier than your 10-15gig, traditional music iPod.
E) If you never upgrade your iTunes due to the hacks you can employ on earlier versions, then you cannot use the photo feature (yes I tried).
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