[thehairofelguapo]

Anyone know if there are any differences between iPods purchased in different countries? I suspect that the insert in the box would have to be in the language of the country of purchase, but I'm wondering if there are any other differences? I had heard that European iPods had different software on them than North American iPods, but I'm not sure if that is still the case or even if there actually was ever any different software or maybe a different default setting. Do they use differernt packaging in different countries, or do they just rely on the standard box and go with the minimal amount of English that's printed the box?

I'm just curious...had also heard that some iPods are made outside of China!? A friend insisted that some were made in Ireland, but he's also one to believe anything he's told!

Thanks!

[clairejr]

I've bought 3 ipods (Shuffle, Nano, iPod (5G)) in Israel and they all came packaged the same way as US iPods (sealed package - English only instructions and warranty info.). The Apple company here attached Hebrew instructions to the Shuffle, but none with the Nano or iPod. I assume Hebrew instructions are available from their website, but I didn't check since English is my mother tongue.

There is one difference according to a friend of mine - since our iPods come from Europe, there are volume limits built in so the maximum volume is lower than that in the States. I haven't noticed a problem with the Shuffle's volume, but the Nano and iPod do seem to have low maximum volumes, even when I set the volume limit in the software to maximum. The difference must be a firmware difference since the software is the same as the US software (I had to upgrade the software on all three with iTunes 7 and I used the download from the US website).

All three of my iPods were made or assembled in China.

Claire

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[thehairofelguapo]

THanks for your response, Claire!
Wow, so they actually use a unique firmware for different regions? That seems like it would have to cost them a lot of money! I had heard about a volume difference between European and North American iPods, but I had just assumed that it was based on iTunes & the software update that happened when you registered. Were the Hebrew instructions actually inside of the box (in the shrinkwrap), or were they just glued to the outside?

[icruise]

I'm not sure about the volume difference issue, but for the most part iPods are exactly the same no matter where you purchase them. The iPod OS is multilingual, allowing the same hardware and software to be used pretty much everywhere. I think there are packaging differences depending on the country, though. Of course this may change as the packages change, but I seem to recall that the 1st gen iPod I bought in Japan had Japanese on the box and instructions.

[clairejr]

The Hebrew instructions were taped to the sealed package. The iPods come here from Europe sealed and that's how they're delivered to the customer.

The only problem here is that there is no support for Hebrew on the iPods, so the titles to all my Hebrew songs appear as blanks on the iPod. I don't really care since I use the Shuffle for listening to Hebrew music, the Nano for English/American music, and the iPod for watching videos and listening to podcasts. But it would be nice if Apple could manage to make truly multilingual iPods (they don't support Arabic either and I guess some other languages with different character sets).

Claire

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