The New iPod

During my vacation the scroll wheel on my iPod stopped working and wasn’t that a bad thing? I was stuck listening to a podcast (a podcast I enjoy, but one I wasn’t in the mood to listen to at that particular point in time) at fairly low volumes because it had been night time when I was listening to it last. The world is a lot more noisy in the daytime.

I was bummed.

But then Christmas came and I got a Target gift card that had enough on it for me to purchase a new iPod. I was thinking of saving up for an iPod touch so I could keep in touch with my family while deployed but eventually I started thinking that I’d much rather just get a computer and not have to worry about battery life or a small screen or all that.

So with the Touch out of consideration, I started thinking about the iPod Classic. 120GB is a lot to fill and I have about 40GB in music right now. But I wasn’t really in the mood for another big iPod. My old one was big enough and it was always a hassle to run with so as good as it would be to have a bigger screen and more storage space, I moved down to the Nanos.

Ah, the Nanos. The colorful and very cool iPod lite. I’ve blogged about them in the past, about how shaking a piece of electronic equipment doesn’t seem like a smart idea, about how the accelerometer is a very cool thing and all that. I like them.

So I immediately wanted to get the 16GB model. I think this is just part of being an American, wanting the biggest and therefore “best” of everything. But it was about 50.00 too much for my gift card so I moved down to the 8GB model which was cool because it had the color I wanted in stock.

About the selection: I wasn’t so much “settling” for an iPod with less storage space. I had an epiphany while out in Tucson that, while I have all of my music on my iPod, I am constantly clicking next track. And then there are the books, the comedy routines, and the otherwise not-always-desirable stuff on it. They come in handy, sure, but in specific instances. Instances that can be PLANNED for. Going on a road trip? NOW is the time to sync up the comedy or books on tape. But in my normal day to day office work, I was clicking more than listening. So while out there I made an on the go playlist with all of my favorite songs and while I reached maximum capacity for the playlist, I was sure it was under 8gb.

And it was really fun to do that. I also thought that it would be fun to get into a routine of making specific playlists for the day, or downtime on flights, and overall it’s an enjoyable experience, this constant mucking around with iTunes instead of plugging in every three months to get the latest podcasts, though it is really cool to see just what is in the “top 25 most played” section after such a long departure from the computer.

So. With me comfortable through rationalization (give it a shot sometime) I was now able to move onto the next decision: color.

You can ask anyone that knows me, I always pick a color I later regret. When I bought my Game Boy Advance they were available in purple and silver and because I was a little worried about maintaining a manly appearance, I chose the silver. Purple’s one of my favorite colors and I picked silver. Silver’s cool and all, but I chose poorly in that case, I think, and it happened again and again as my life went on.

My wife is very aware of this problem of mine. I told her that she always picks cool colors, colors I don’t mind constantly seeing and therefore, I want HER to pick out the color of MY (keep in mind though that it’s MINE, so no pink) iPod. I had it limited to a few colors: orange, green, purple, blue or gray. She chose green saying that, while I may or may not know it, my favorite stuff is green and it’s the color I’m always gravitating toward. While I may THINK other colors are my favorites, I always naturally and without even thinking about it, go to the green. It hit me that she’s right (she’s always right) and I picked the green. Target did not have the green in the 16gb model so it was an added bonus for buying the smaller model.

So, my impressions: I like it. It’s thin and light. It will be incredibly easy to run with and I’m excited about getting the Nike+ thingy to keep track of my workouts. My iPod did not have videos, photos, a particularly sharp screen or even color so everything about the display impresses me and I feel it would be very skewed if I were to offer anything resembling a review of it because of this. I really like it, I really like the sharpness and brightness of it and pictures look pretty great on it. I have just recently downloaded a couple of video podcasts to look at, but as of right now, they haven’t been watched so I can’t offer any sort of opinion.

I like cover flow view on iTunes and the iPod touch. Looking at album art as big as possible is always cool to me. I’m a huge fan of album art and even think that CDs should move away from jewel cases to slip covers inside LP covers. Remember records? That’s the kind of size I like and I think artists should start doing this. I think the art would be worth the decrease in storage capacity (because while an LP cover may be one half or even one third of the thickness of a jewel case they are at least twice as tall). I’m a firm believer in this, ESPECIALLY in this day and age when people are oft to buy a CD, rip it to their computer and shelve the CD for the rest of eternity. Some sell the CD on eBay once they rip it and that’s fine, but I like to keep them around in case I need to import them again for some reason.

Anyway, regarding the cover flow, I think it’s a little small for the Nano and I’m using the usual scroll method more though it’s still cool to have it there and having the covers grace the bottom of the screen on the music menu is pretty cool. While it is cool to have them scrolling along the bottom, the slightly older Nanos had a cooler cover flow to the side with moving, focusing, blending covers in a montage as if saying that your music will do something similar moving from one genre to another.

But am I complaining? Absolutely not.

Now, the shaking. I shake. I think it’s got a fun novelty to it and I was thinking that 1) while pricey, it wasn’t like I gave up a kidney for this and 2) it’s a flash drive not run of the mill spinning hard drive so there are less moving parts and I’m a lot more comfortable with it. Sometimes the shake is acknowledged, sometimes not. When it isn’t, I just click forward.

And just how often do I click? Not often. Not often at all.

There are a couple of other great things, little things, that really help out. For one thing: when I pause in a podcast it remembers where I was for when I go back to it. I like to listen to them in the car where I can concentrate on it (and driving) and not have a ton of interruptions like you do in any office. It’s nice to know that I won’t have to remember time stamps and episode numbers like I used to. It’s like a little bit of hassle of operation has left and I feel better for it.

In summary, I truly feel like this was an upgrade even if it was not an upgrade in size. I’m sure this may sound weird, or maybe it sounds like I’m just trying to justify the purchase of the lowest priced iPod that has a screen (I don’t think I am though) but I’m incredibly satisfied with the purchase. I DO want to purchase a skin from invisishield.com to protect it. It looks great right now all brand new, but with my old iPod, it didn’t take long at all before it was getting all sorts of scratches and unlike guitars, iPods do NOT look good with road wear. I think this is the case with most electronics. And I don’t’ want to baby the thing forever. I like how it feels tough with it’s all aluminum body and it feels like, provided it had the protective skin offered by invisishield, it would be more than capable of handling anything my pockets could dish out at it. Indeed, I wouldn’t worry about keeping it in the same pocket as my keys so long as it had that skin. Without the skin though, I’m very careful.