Column: iPod the pinnacle of portable music
Portable music is something nearly every college student values. There are countless products on the market that will let people carry their music wherever they go, but none are as slick, compact and perfect as Apple’s iPod.
Options for portable music include CD players, MiniDisc players and MP3 players; the iPod combines the best of all formats for music and presents the ultimate portable music experience.
Weighing less than two compact discs, the iPod is compact, light and stylish. Its milky-white faceplate and sliver backside come together in a flashy device that is easy to put in your pocket or backpack to carry around.
The new, second-generation version of the iPod comes in 10, 20 and 40-gigabyte sizes. According to Apple, 10 gigabytes is enough to hold 2,500 songs – that’s about five days worth of music.
Music can be transferred to the iPod in a number of ways. The most efficient way of getting music onto the device is by using the iTunes music store (www.itunes.com). The store has hundreds of thousands of songs available for download at 99 cents each and entire albums available for as little as $9.99. The music files are very fast (and completely legal) to download and are high-quality MP4 sound files.
Music can also be stored on the iPod by ripping music off of the compact discs you already own. This process is very easy: A CD is inserted into the computer and the song tracks pop up in your music software with track titles and information.
With the iTunes software now available for both Mac and Windows platforms, users just have to drag and drop the music files to the iPod and the songs are transferred. The process takes about four to five minutes per CD, depending on the level of sound quality you select to use.
When the songs are on the iPod, they are categorized by artist, album title and song titles. Users can create as many play lists as they like. Play lists can also be created on the go without a computer.
Once the user has songs on the iPod to listen to, it is very easy to navigate and select the music of choice. A sensitive-touch wheel on the front of the device lets users move their finger around the circle while the display scrolls through the music files. As the user moves their finger around the circle faster, the display cycles through song titles and artists faster. This is convenient when there are thousands of songs on the device.
When the user has found the song they desire to listen to, they simply touch the center of the wheel to select the file. The music starts playing and the user can control the volume by using the touch wheel, or move to a different track by using the other navigation buttons on the device.
If users like different equalizer settings, the iPod comes with 20 different settings ranging from rock to ska to large hall.
Battery life on the 20-gigabyte iPod allows about eight hours of continuous use, depending on how much the display’s backlight is used. According to Apple, the battery life is comparable to the 10 and 40 gig devices. Battery recharge time is fast, requiring one hour for the device to charge to 80 percent capacity and three hours to charge to full capacity.
The major appeal of the iPod as a whole is the amount of material that can be stored on the device. According to Apple, the 40-gig iPod can hold 10,000 songs. That is about four weeks of continuous music or one new song a day for 27 years.
The devices can also be used as portable FireWire hard drives to transport information. Users can transfer their song files to the iPod and connect their device to any FireWire enables computer with a CD burner to create music CDs.
While the iPod can also be used to store contact information and calendar entries, the layout of those features on the device are more cumbersome and less-detailed than a day planer or Palm Pilot and are not as optimal for day-to-day use.
The one major knock some have on the iPods is their cost. At $269 for the 10-gig, $369 for the 20-gig and $469 for the 40-gig, they are not the cheapest music solutions on the market.
The best value of the iPods are the 20-gig and 40-gig versions as they come with a carrying case and FireWire dock that would normally be about $35 each. With twice as much memory and the extra accessories, the 20-gig version is almost a no-brainer over the 10-gig.
All three models of the iPod are available at Computer Solutions in the Utah State University Bookstore. A demo model of the iPod is available for those who would like a closer look.
While the price of the device might seem steep, for avid music lovers looking for a slick portable music solution, the extra money is easily worth it for everything the machine delivers.
Tyler Riggs is a sophomore majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to
str@cc.usu.edu.