[iCol]

Am I missing something, or is it that you cannot search for music on your iPod touch in a similar fashion as in iTunes (text in search field narrows down your content) and the iPod Classic?

Hmm...

[michaelb]

You're right, they don't. I have an iPhone but the iPod section of it is virtually identical to the touch.

I also have a 3rd gen nano, which like the classic, does have search and I agree, it's a desirable feature. The nano/classic also have other iPod features that the touch/iPhone lack:

• lyrics
• video podcasts play video from the podcast section like they should (grrr)
• chapter marker headings show (eg, in videos converted with Handbrake 0.9.0)
• far better time bar navigational control when going to specific points in long tracks
• (try navigating to 6:23:30 in a 12 hour Audiobook and you'll know what I mean - the click wheel is far more precise)
• the long podcast description text can be shown (click the wheel's center button 3 times to cycle there )
• better formatting of album art
• (the touch/iPhone fill the screen with album art, and because it's square and takes up too much room, they hide the time bar until you tap the screen, which then obscures the top section)
• podcasts show an episode count in their index list
• audiobooks show the author in their index list
• other display tweaks like this

In fact, in many ways the new "old" IPod interface seems a generation ahead of the touch/iPhone iPod functionality. What the touch 'pods gain in swishing eye candy, they lose on pure functionality.

(And, although it's probably blasphemous to say, the old style iPods make better use of their screens, especially the nano, with its gorgeous 204 dpi screen)

It'd be nice if an update brought the touch 'pods up to par.

[Visnaut]

That's an excellent list, michealb. It really puts into perspective all that the touch-screen iPod user is missing out on.

The irony here, especially with the iPod touch, is that search functionality would be much easier and faster to use on that nice touch-screen keyboard, than the decoder-ring-style of the click wheel iPods. Couple that with the fact that an iPod touch can have at least double the storage space for music as a nano, which has search capabilities, and you have yourself a head-scratcher.

Another thing that bugs me about the touch is how much of a kludge it is to give a song a star rating. You have to go back to its playlist (or album listing?) to change the star rating.

I really hope Apple continues to refine the touch-screen iPods to be as functional as the click wheel iPods'.