[Siskomac]

I got the brand-new 40 GB iPod in yesterday, after it sitting in limbo for a week in Shanghai.



The audio quality is every bit as good as in the previous generations, and it seems the little "stop and start" sound the buffer would make as it loaded a song is gone now. It was an annoyance.

The clickwheel is 1000% better than any of the previous menu/navigation controls, providing very tactile feedback. The newly-organized menus are great, and the backlight and screen are much improved over the previous iPods; very bright and clear.

The downside of the iPod, of course, is how easily it scratches...but I'm going to just use the damned thing instead of worrying about it this time. No fancy carrying cases or skins, no ridiculous add-ons that cost me an extra $100. The stock earphones still blow, however, so a good set of earbuds is a must; I use a pair of Sonys, and they're great.

The coolest new feature is Shuffle Songs, which just randomly plays songs you've loaded...it can make for some interesting mixes.

[Mac Zealot]

Nice ipod The only *ONLY* thing that got me hung up on the 4g/mini ipods is that you can't hold more than 1 button at a time (from what I can tell, at least) heheh is that true?

Otherwise it's very nice. I stuck with my 2g ipod through the 3g craze because I thought the 4 buttons at the top weren't worth it, and while I might not be upgrading any time soon because my 2g still works, I do like this one

[Apfhex]

Can anyone compare this to the mini? With recent announcements I've been thinking about purchasing a mini to replace my original 10GB model (4GB is enough for me, and the small size would be great!), but I don't want it to be outdated already. I'm particularly interested in the software, because of that Times article.

[vvedge]

Originally posted by Mac Zealot:
Nice ipod The only *ONLY* thing that got me hung up on the 4g/mini ipods is that you can't hold more than 1 button at a time (from what I can tell, at least) heheh is that true?

Yes you can. The whole thing is on sort of a pivot.

However, unless you're rewinding and fast forwarding at the same time (thus negating time), i dunno why you'd need to. The Reset key combination of Menu+Play on a mini (and I assume on a 4G) is supplemented by a simplete Menu+Select so you dont have to push the two opposite ends of a pivot. It took me a while to figure that one out, but both woth, the select one works better because you dont hit the other buttons by accident.

[MrForgetable]

Nice iPod I'm getting one myself in a couple of weeks

[ajprice]

Just looking at that photo, is the click wheel flush with the front of the iPod, or raised slightly?

[brentsg]

It depends on the iPod you get. Some are perfectly flush, some are raised a bit, etc. It's very close though. The dark area around the click wheel (toward the left) is a shadow probably through the clear coat due to the light source being on the right.

For all practical purposes it is flush though there is the tinyest bit of manufacturing variation.

B

[andreas_g4]

One really cool thing is the fact that you can command the touch wheel through the drapery of your trouser. That way, by releasing the hold button with the thumb, you can easyly adjust volume conveniently, even without volume control on the earphones. Very cool.

[funkboy]

Originally posted by andreas_g4:
One really cool thing is the fact that you can command the touch wheel through the drapery of your trouser. That way, by releasing the hold button with the thumb, you can easyly adjust volume conveniently, even without volume control on the earphones. Very cool.

I was also very impressed by this.

You don't have to be holding the iPod (and thus getting fingerprints on it) to control it. As stated, not only can you click the wheel, but you can also slide your finger across it, too.

This 4th gen is the first iPod I've ever owned, and I am absolutely blown away with it. I wouldn't worry much about whether or not you can hold two buttons at the same time, either.

The click wheel is essentially flush, yes. In fact, it just plain is flush, yes.

The speed up thing for audiobooks didn't impress me quite as much as I thought it would... I was hoping it would be like the program "The Amazing Slow-Downer" or whatever it's called for Mac. Instead, it just seems to get rid of extra pauses by the speaker. It definitely takes some getting used to at first to pick up the faster speaker's cadence. The slow down for audiobooks sounds more natural.