| iPod 60GB Photo Review |
| Written by Maxit | ||||
The designs the same as ever - shock
horror. Classic, simple, perfect. In the box
you have some brief instructions, a driver disk with an old version of
iTunes, a usb cable, charger and some white cord
headphones. Operation is typical Apple affair - charge up,
plugin, install some drivers and away you go. iTunes
manages all your music with aplomb from purchases to existing music
collection organisation. Generate playlists and share them
with your pals, be a DJ at the party, download some audiobooks, order
beer and pizzas (ok the last ones wishful thinking) - it's
all there and you guessed it, simple. So simple even George
Bush could work it. In fact Apple might even have used him
to test it along with the other chimps down at the lab but don't quote
me on that - I voted for the Respect party and then found out
Ali G wasn't the leader.
The colour screen is pleasing and still very small, storing images at a size of 220 x 176 pixels. With a S-Video connector you can hook it up to your TV and slideshow through all your pictures - even add a wipe transition with some background music to give your grandma a thrill. Hooked up to a TV I found the pictures sharp and 5 hour slideshow time on a full battery charge Apple claims can't be bad. You can arrange pictures into a photo album in a 5 x 5 photo grid fashion but you'll need magnifying glasses to see the 3/16 of an inch high by 1/4 of an inch wide thumbnails. Scrolling through thousands of pictures is lightning fast with the 'thumb around the scroll wheel technique' many iPod masters are used too.
An
optional (optional is Apple accounts departments favourite word) iPod
camera connector allows you to transfer photos directly from most USB
digital cameras or USB photo card readers to the iPod.
Transfering pictures to and from your PC or MAC is easy if you have
iPhoto, Adobe Photoshop album or Adobe Elements
3.0. If you haven't had the pleasure of purchasing any
of these software packages you'll have to go down the manual
transfer route of drag and drop on the desktop.
Picture control is none existent on the iPod - no zoom or pan, rotation
or other useful things folks like to play with. As a
photographer I was quite excited by the prospect of using the iPod to
store pictures on the go from my Canon 1DS mark II.
Okay maybe I'm not your average user Apple had in
mind snapping away on a 7 million jpeg camera and the
Canon with its native 15 meg raw files didn't see eye to eye with the
iPod - in fact at one point I think it even swore at it.
Stepping down to the Ixus proved a more compatible prospect and
the iPod gobbled up the jpegs with ease. Don't think about
using the iPod to store and view images on the road.
Everything has to pass through iTunes so you can't even view shots from
a digital camera you upload direct to the iPod till you get back home
and upload them through iTunes. Even worse if you connect
it to another computer it replaces all your current images with the
ones on the new computer. I found all this particularly
annoying and confusing.
As a picture storage device to take with you as
you globe trot around the world, the iPod could be a handy
tool with its 60gb hard drive but the above mentioned limitations
make it a royal pain in the ass.
Power photographers should definetly look elsewhere for a more
dedicated device but if you splashed out on a decent camera you
probably knew that already.
Thankfully, as a music player the iPod is still the
champ. Sound quality is excellent with an
improved Apple claimed 15 hour playback on full battery
charge. Purchase an optional docking station such as
the JBL On Stage (highly recommended) and the sound leaps from the
tiny woofers to wow listeners with clear trebles and deep
bass. Operation is mp3 nirvana with navigation through
thousands of songs just a thumb press away. The included
headphones are lightweight and powerful - plenty enough to deafen a
headbanger without suffering major distortion. Connect up
via the included USB cable and iTunes springs to life while charging
the unit at the same time.
The only real grumble is the new iPod doesn't come with a docking
base or AV cable. It's optional, optional, optional all the
way as Apple milk the profit from their pint sized money
maker. Of course their are loads of other audio players on
the market some of them offering much better photo features
such as the Archos Gmini 402 which adds video playback,
more picture options like zoom and pan with just as good audio
quality. Should you still buy an iPod? For
audio, absolutely. It's a design classic with crisp
sounds and simple operation. As a photo player it's not so
hot, more luke warm and gimmicky. It stores pictures and
allows viewing on your TV which for some might be enough.
For serious photographers its no use at all. For
audiophiles its a neat bonus to an already great
package. Buy one, love it, polish it everyday and
worship at the temple of Apple design.
Bookmark
Email This
Trackback(0)
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form