Review: Apple iPod Touch 16 GB. Part 5: iTunes and Conclusion

Posted by: dgoldring on Aug 30 2008

The final component of the iPod Touch puzzle is iTunes.  Of course, this is the connection between your computer and your iPod Touch.  And I will admit that this is a big reason I put off purchasing an iPhone for so long.  I have never been a fan of iTunes, and I really do not like the idea of using a single proprietary system to handle my media.  I much prefer other media players which allow you to use multiple formats and even drag and drop your media onto your device.  The combination of the iPod Touch interface and the App Store, however, was ultimately too much for me to overlook.  ITunes became a necessary evil and I took the plunge.  So, let’s take a closer look at the interface that launched 1000 iPods, and then on to a few other miscellaneous items which I did not mention in previous articles.

 

iTunes: Probably the biggest hesitation I had about making the jump to an iPod was moving everything to iTunes.  What I found was probably not as scary as I had feared (it never really is).  The biggest problem, however, was that everything was just not quite where I would have expected it to be.  The best way I can explain it is that I felt like someone who, after using Wordperfect for years, was suddenly going to start using MS Word (or vice versa).  All of the same functions are there, its just a matter of finding them.  Fortunately for me, I had a handful of fantastic gurus (Brandon, Dan, Judie, and Thomas) who answered many frantic emails and helped talk me through a few scary episodes in the first couple of days.

After a while, though, iTunes did start to make sense to me.  I really like the easy to use system of checking what you want to sync and unchecking what you don’t want.  This made things considerably easier to load media than moving items to the sync list in Windows Media Player.  More importantly, however, iTunes makes it terrifically easy to remove media.  Simply uncheck the box and sync.  Really, I was amazed once I learned my way around at just how easy it could be.

One other advantage I found over Windows Media Player.  I store all of my media on an external drive, which is connected via USB.  While Windows Media can locate this media and add it to my library, it cannot sync it to my device directly from the external drive.  Well that is kind of a pain.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that iTunes had no trouble in this regard.  My music, videos, and photos were able to sync flawlessly, regardless of where I had them stored.

I was also really impressed, as you can see above, by the fact that iTunes on my computer can mimic the coverflow interface.  I am a huge fan of seeing album art, and this just blew me away.

 

In addition to storing your music, however, iTunes is also a full media store, with thousands of songs, movies, TV shows, and more.  In fact, I found this store to be a little too integrated with iTunes.  It was all too easy to slip from the parts of iTunes which display media you already own, to the store where you have to pay to download media. 

I was also stunned to find that you could even rent movies through iTunes.  Now, I will say that the terms of the rental were annoyingly ridiculous (30 day rental with no chance to renew, and once you start the movie, you must finish it within 24 hours), however, I thought it was pretty cool that you could do this at all. 

The new App Store is probably the most intriguing addition.  As with most things, Apple has taken almost the complete opposite approach to that taken by Microsoft. As most Windows Mobile users can tell you, there are several significant problems with third party apps.  You lose the registration code.  You lose track of the download site.  There is no consistent way to track upgrades.  The file is lost somewhere on your computer. The list goes on.  With Apple, none of these issues exist because everything is controlled by the Apple App Store.  One the other hand, everything is controlled by the Apple App Store…

I like this all in one approach because it means that I never have to worry about all of these trivialities with my iPod Touch.  Every program I own is stored in the same place, and I receive an instant notice when there is an upgrade available.  There are no trials and, therefore, no need for registration codes.  Like your other media, just check the box to install, and uncheck it to uninstall.

The downside of this, however, is that Apple has complete control over which applications may be provided through the App Store.  While I am not opposed to having some sort of a gatekeeper screening applications, Apple seems to have failed miserably in this gatekeeper role.  There is simply no consistency.  If Apple wants to control the supply lines like this, then they must do a better and more consistent job of policing the applications that they allow.

The only other point I want to make here involves Vista.  Regardless of what you think of Vista (I am perfectly happy with it for the most part) iTunes does not love it.  Most of the time it works fine, but every so often I will run into an option that will not work in Vista.  Most notably are ROM upgrades, which absolutely will not work on Vista.  No problem on Windows XP.  If you ask Apple, they will tell you something changed between XP and Vista in the operating system which does not allow iTunes to work properly.  If you ask Microsoft, they will tell you that it was intentionally done by Apple to sabotage their new OS.   I have no idea what the reason is.  I just wish someone would fix it.  Otherwise, most of the problems I had with iTunes can be attributed to simple user error (oops).

Memory: One of the areas I was eager to test on the iPod Touch was the memory.  The iPod Touch comes in three flavors (8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB).  I got the 16GB which seemed to be perfectly adequate for storage.  I was able to hold close to hold 2700 songs, four videos, over 400 photos, and several dozen rotating applications.  All of this with well over 2 GBs of storage space to spare.  I was disappointed that there was no opportunity to add removable storage, such as a micro SD card, however, I quickly found that the built in memory was more than sufficient (though users of the 8 GB model might disagree). 

One thing I was not able to figure out though, was how the iPod utilizes Program Memory (as Windows Mobile would call it).  It really did not seem to do well here.  Program would open and freeze, crash causing a reset, or just slow down in general.  Now, I am sure that at least some of this was due to poor design by third party developers.  However, with no means of monitoring what memory is being accessed or how efficiently it is being used.  Based upon the behavior of my iPod Touch, however, it would seem like whatever memory is being used here, it is not enough.

Battery: Typically, the weakest link in any device is going to be the battery.  It frequently takes a lot of space to get even a reasonable amount of power.  So, I was fairly impressed with the battery in the iPod.  I know the iPhone 3G has had some criticism of the battery.  Thankfully, the iPod Touch does not have 3G access and, therefore, does not experience the same kind of battery drain.

The first thing I noticed was that the battery has to be tiny (in size).  It is not removable or replaceable (like most iPods) so I could not verify the battery size without destroying my iPod.  But at the same time, it is obviously small enough to fit inside this incredibly skinny shell.  The battery life was really extremely good on the iPod Touch.  Again, without that pesky 3G getting in the way, the iPod does a great job with power management.  I was typically able to get several hours of use between charges, depending on whether I was using Wifi (which had a predictably negative effect on battery life) or just listening to music. 

Wrap Up: I have been using the iPod Touch for a little over a month now, and I have to say that I am extremely impressed by it.  As a media player, it is by far the best I have ever used.  The interface is fantastic, and it is extremely easy to move your music between the iPod and your computer (which was the original selling point for the iPod).  I will be curious, however, to see how the seven inch screen on the new Archos media players compare. 

As a PDA, I thought Apple was off to a good start, but there is still plenty of work to be done.  The App Store makes it easy (sometimes too easy) to find every available application for the iPod Touch, and even notifies you when there is an update.  On the other hand, Apple’s gatekeeper function is sorely lacking.  I also found that the iPod suffered from memory issues, which caused significant lags and instabilities when using certain third party applications.  Hopefully this can be fixed soon.

I can certainly see why so many have dubbed this the device of the future.  However, I think it would be wrong to count out the competition.  The iPod Touch/iPhone clearly changed the rules of the game.  But it would be a mistake to declare Apple the clear winner.  Windows Mobile has stepped up their game lately with the Diamond and Touch Pro, Xperia X1, and Omnia.  Blackberry is striking back with several new devices, and the Android platform is just about to launch on the HTC Dream.  The field is getting crowded, and the game is about to begin…

Where To Buy and Price: The iPod Touch is available from dozens of retail stores, including Apple’s website.  It costs: $299 for the 8GB, $399 for the 16 GB and $499 for the 32 GB.  To be honest, I found these prices to be a bit ridiculous.  Most media players I have used cost between 30 and 50% less that the iPod Touch.  Whether it is worth the extra money is something you will have to decide for yourself.  I found, however, that with a little searching, you can find a much more reasonably priced used or refurbished unit.  I found a fantastic 16GB refurbished iPod Touch on Amazon for $260. 

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