jaymend's Full Review: Apple iPod mini First Gen. Silver (4 GB, M9160LL/A...
Intro
A couple of months ago I promised my son an MP3 player if he improved his grades in school which is what he did. So for a couple of weeks I set out evaluating various players mostly reading reviews on the web. I already bought my other kid a 128 MB Rio mp3 player as a present last Christmas but I wanted to buy a player with at least twice the capacity of that Rio. My research pointed me to the direction of the Creative Labs Muvo Tx which I thought provided the best bang for the buck for an MP3 player under $200.
A few weeks ago, I got to the store to check out the Muvo and it was there when I saw an iPod on display. I held it, played with it for a few minutes and right there I decided this is what I need to buy for my son! I was captivated at once by the large display, and of course, the well thought out interface. The touch wheel made navigating, selecting, and setting options really easy. Ok so I decided iPod it was, but which model? This is where my son made the decision for me. He wanted the mini mainly because of the smaller size. He said the added capacity did not really matter as he can swap songs in and out of the iPod if space ran out. So I got him the iPod mini.
Out of the Box Experience
The iPod's packaging is second to none. You get a box with nice graphics which when opened splits in two to reveal the iPod and its charger on one side, and the software, manuals and accessories on the other... pretty neat. Then there is the aluminum anodized iPod itself... it feels much more substantial than any other portable mp3 players I have laid my hands on. The touch wheel with the 5 "clickers" is a marvel of simplicity and efficiency. The wheel actually depresses when clicked and this provides better feedback than the wheel with separate controls found on older generation iPods. The iPod mini, as everyone by now knows, uses a micro hard drive for storage which can hold approximately 4 GB of data (around 1000 songs).
Mini iPod goodness - tarnished by installation problems
After I unpacked the iPod, I took a cursory look at the instruction booklet, plugged the iPod to the charger, and proceeded to go about installing the software. I installed the Software off the CD which basically consist of the iPod Updater and iTunes. The iPod Updater updates the firmware on the iPod and can also be used to restore the iPod to its factory settings. iTunes is the primary tool to load up the iPod with mp3's, and Apple's proprietary Mp4's (AAC), and also to download tunes from the web. As my son already has hundred's of mp3s, my main concern was to use iTunes to transfer these files to the iPod.
After charging the iPod for about an hour, I decided to plug the iPod to the PC via the supplied USB cable. Plugging it in installed the USB drivers and launched both the iTunes and iPod Updater programs. This is where the installation hassles began. First, I got a message that I had to update iTunes with a later version on Apple's website. So I downloaded the new version and installed it over the old one. Next, I was browsing Apple's website and noticed there was a link to a new iPod Updater dated mid June (July?) 2004. So I downloaded this too and installed it. I think I had to reboot after each software installation. This is where I miss Linux as installing software (even drivers) on Linux does not usually require a reboot.
Anyway after installing the updates, I plugged the iPod again and was greeted by a "Do Not Disconnect" message on the iPod's display. Well I thought, the firmware was probably being updated so I will give it a few minutes to do its thing. However, the message would not disappear even after about 30 minutes. After that, my memory is blurry, but I finally ended up pressing the button on the updater to reset the firmware to factory defaults. This reset the iPod's firmware to factory defaults and a message appeared that I had to take the iPod out and use the Firewire cable and plug it to the recharger to complete the reset.
After this I plugged the iPod back to the PC via the USB cable. I was greeted with the same "Do Not Disconnect" message that would not go away. By chance I stumbled on the iPod Updater's help file which explained a way on how to reset the iPod if it got stuck. Note that this same procedure is also discussed in page 48 of the iPod's manual (under Tips and Troubleshooting). The procedure is to switch the hold button on then off, in rapid succession, then press the "Menu" and "Select" (middle button) simultaneously for about 6 seconds. After I reset the iPod, the "Do not disconnect" message finally disappeared and I removed it waited a few seconds, then replugged it to the PC again. Finally the iPod was recognized by iTunes!
Loading up mp3s via iTunes
Along the way, iTunes also promted me to register on Apple's site which I did. Again more hassle... for some reason the website would not respond to give me my unique Apple ID. Somewhere, I also got a message telling me that iTunes download might not be enabled in Canada. So I said forget this, I would not want to buy music via iTunes anyway as me and my sons already have quite a collection of CDs AND mp3s. I cancelled the registration process and proceeded to use the "Add Folder to Library" function under the "File" option of the main menu. This launched a "File dialog" which I pointed to to the "My Documents/My Music" folder which registered in iTunes all the mp3 files I had inside folders under the "My Documents/My Music" directory. Connecting the iPod to the PC with iTunes running now started the process of loading all the mp3's in the said directory into the iPod.
I also tried using iTunes to "convert" CDs to Apple's "mp4a" (AAC) format. I noticed it took a while before iTunes got the CD information from Gracenotes... much slower than both the mp3 ripping/encoding software I use in Windows (AudioCatalyst frontend/Xing encoder) and in Linux (Grip frontend/CDParanoia ripper/Lame encoder). I noticed ripping/encoding was also slower using iTunes. This made me and my son to decide that we continue ripping/encoding mp3's from our CDs via our favorite tools and would just be importing these mp3's to iTunes via the "File/Add Folders to Library" option on the main menu.
Using the iPod
After the initial problems of installing/using Apple's iPod software for the PC, me and my son finally were able to start marvelling the iPod itself which is what made me decide to buy it in the first place. I will not go into the details of using the iPod's controls here as I assume others already have done so in great lengths. Suffice it to say that it is the best portable mp3 player interface bar none... and I have played with quite a few of them including the Rio and the Windows Media Player on my Compaq Ipaq PDA. This is mostly due to the touch slider wheel that allows you to scroll thru the menus/selections effortlessly.
This interface lets you to "Browse" or search music by Artist, Albums, Songs, Genre, or Composers. It also allows for navigating playlists which you create via iTunes, or you can also create a playist "on the go" by selecting songs on your iPod. Settings are also very easily accessed and modified.
The sound coming out of the iPod was pretty good but the headphones where only of adequate quality.To check the sound quality, I hooked up the iPod to a mid sized amplifier powering a pair of Canton 2 way bookshelf speakers mounted on stands. For my tests, I used my son's Eminem and 50 Cents hip hop tracks as well as my own Jazz and Rock mp3s mostly encoded at 192 kbps using the excellent Lame mp3 encoder. The sound was very good... the soundstage was well defined, and there was no audible distortion even at high to maximum sound volumes. The high frequency sounds were crisp but not shrill (specially on the 192 kbps encoded mp3s) and the bottoms were punchy. I also tested the equalizer and set it to both "Bass Boost" and then "Hip Hop". Both settings added bass, but did not distort the music... pretty good. Finally, I started forgetting the installation hassles I encountered as I marvelled at how easy it was to navigate between songs, artists, and playlists (which you had to create using iTunes) on the iPod.
Final thoughts
Perhaps I was just unlucky with this unit as I haven't seen any reviewer mentioning installation hassles like what I encountered. However, I am still no big fan of iTunes and as soon as I find the time, and if my son allows me, I will try and hook iPod up to my Linux PCs. Open Source developers have developed/reversed engineered iTunes and came up with a software to hook up iPods to Linux PCs. One such software is the GTKpod (http://gtkpod.sourceforge.net) which is available for free download just like many Open Source Software for Linux.
Setting the software issues aside, the iPod itself is a slam dunk. Apple did an excellent job with marketing, packaging, and basically generating buzz around this product. The actual product surprisingly lives up to the hype however. Holding an actual iPod in your hands and playing with the controls actually enhances the experience so much that all sense of objectivity is lost, replaced by the impulse that you gotta have one of these... no wonder these things have been selling like hotcakes.
So for you folks who have already made up their minds to get an RCA, a Muvo, an iRiver protable player, I urge you not to look and definitely resist the urge to hold and play with one of these. There is a big chance you might end up getting the iPod thereby lightening your wallet by at least another 100 bucks.
Updates
Aug 03, 2004 ============================
Turns out you can change settings in iTunes to default to encoding mp3s instead of AAC. This is done in the main menu under Edit > Preferences > Importing Tab. Under the "Import Using" drop down, select the "MP3 Encoder" option. You can also change the default bit rates by changing the option under "Settings".
I also noticed that the battery is charging when the iPod Mini is connected to the PC via the provided USB 2.0 cable. Not sure if this is the result of the updated iPod Updater which I installed or if this was already working out of the box.
Aug 07, 2004 ============================
MINOR annoyances/bugs which were encountered the past week. Ipod locked up once while my son was navigating songs. Just performed the reset procedure outlined above to set things back to normal.
It appears the battery life indicator is somehow stuck to the level it had before recharging was performed when the iPod is recharged to full without being turned on. The level indicator slowly (a few minutes) moved towards "FULL" though after the iPod was turned on the following day.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 220 Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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