Customer Reviews

Apple iPod 30 GB White M8948LL/A (3rd Generation) OLD MODEL

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I received a new iPod 30GB for Father's day (Thanks Sweetie!). I've used about a dozen or so prior mp3 devices, and I have noted some issues that haven't been represented in any other review, which I wanted to point out to folks considering buying an iPod.

First off, it's a great device overall. 30 GB is a lot of space and fits my 500+ CD music collection fine. I think the battery life of 8-10 hours is great (my previous device, the Nomad Jukebox, had 40GB, but got 2 hours battery life if I was lucky!) and I like it's looks and size a lot. There are some mildly annoying UI issues but nothing I can't live with. The case, and most importantly the screen, scratch really easily, so you have to be careful how you handle it (it's small enough to put in your pocket--just don't keep anything else in that pocket!).

I'm a Windows user, and I'll add my report that the MusicMatch software that ships with the iPod is disgraceful. I loaded it on three different computers, (moving the firewire card around each time) and it never would transfer music to the device. Finally I downloaded an *older* version of MMJB and got music to transfer. Its own user interface is awful and I really hate that it makes you IMPORT all of your music into ITS library. It's clearly designed for the novice user, with no expert-mode features that accommodate folks like me.

But the biggest criticism I have of the iPod is something that Apple just plain got wrong. There is no support for building [persistent] playlists on the device. This really bothers me. It's apparent that iPod's designers had a built-in assumption that people wouldn't mind being tethered to their computers for playlist management and other things, but not everyone works this way. I tend to not hook my device up to a computer unless I have new music to download, which can be weeks. I really want the device to be usable indefinitely without a computer.

But there's one important thing you can't do very well on the iPod without a computer: Create playlists. Yes, you can add songs and albums to the "on the go" playlist, but there are some serious flaws with that feature's implementation:
a) there is only one on-the-go playlist
b) this playlist is temporary. It is blown away the instant you dock your device (why, WHY? This is such a brain-dead design choice it boggles the mind.)
c) when adding entire albums to this playlist, the album order is not respected. They seem to go in either alpha or random order, I haven't figured it out yet.

This makes it tougher to use the device the way I want. I'd like to be able to string together either a list of individual songs or, more often, entire albums and listen to them. But the albums go into the playlist with the song order wrecked, which is annoying. And having to abandon a list I've already created to be able to create a new one is truly annoying. And it's heartbreaking that, after I've put together a really good mix on the device, it will be summarily discarded the instant I dock. I truly can't understand the rationale behind this one.

So on the whole, it's a good device, the best out there for its combination of size, capacity, and battery life. There are some annoying problems that might detract from your enjoyment a bit if you, like me, find album order important and like to create custom playlists anywhere you are. But even with those flaws I'm glad to own mine.

The new Apple 30 gig iPod rocks! I had a 20 gig but had to return it because it wouldn't recognize my laptop computer on a regular basis. The 20 gig is the exact same price as the new 30 gig model and the 30 gig comes with a new docking cradle and new touch sensitive design buttons that enable you to truly operate the ipod one handed. No moving parts anymore, the famous scroll wheel is still there and works very well enabling you to browse thru your music quickly. The new model also enables you to cue up songs on the go, unlike the older model which you had to make your playlists on the computer. The design is sleek and sexycrazycool. Plus 10 more gig of storage for programs or tunes compared to the old 20 gig model. They had to sacrifice a little battery life to make it lighter and smaller,(weighs less than 2 CDs) but you still get 8 hours of music on a full charge and 2 weeks standby. The warranty is one year on defects, after 180 days of ownership you are responsible for shipping costs. You do not want to drop this - it's basically a hard drive that buffers about 25 minutes of music so you don't experience skips when walking or moving. If you run or jog longer than 25 minutes, you don't want to use your iPod for that. I recommend throwing away the earbuds, though they did improve them noticeably and getting Sony's Fontopia earplug type for $ on Amazon. They are noise cancelling and extremely awesome with the iPod. I love the packaging of the iPod and now you don't have to select Mac or Win, whatever you plug it into it recognizes. You get the software for both OS, Music match for win and ITunes for macs. You need a firewire port or a USB 2 port for the fastest transfer. A lot of people have knocked the Musicmatch software but if you take the time to go through the tutorial it works fantastic and I have xPlay which everyone touts as the best as well, but prefer the Musicmatch to xPlay or ephpod, which is buggy (the beta is the only one you can download at present). Learn the Musicmatch if you have a Win pc and you will be able to do everything. The supertagging feature in Musicmatch saves time and comes in handy. By the way Apple's new music store charges only 99 cents a song, and though you have to have a Mac to use it, it will be available for us Windows users soon. the iPod is the cadillac of any digital music player, and don't let anyone tell you different - it's the gold standard that other companies are trying to beat, but they have a long way to go. The iPod sounds and works excellently and stores 7500 songs on the new 30 gig model. I quickly became addicted and it's well worth the investment if you like music and portability. I also recommend the Creature speakers by JBL (cool looking) and the Transpod automobile adapter and FM transmitter in one, if you dont have an automobile CD player, this is a great option for CD quality sound, and cheaper than a lot of CD players in luxury cars. I also like that you can hook up the iPod to your stereo as well, get one you wont regret it. The iPod may be expensive but for some of us it becomes a necessity very quickly, and if I lost mine I would immediately replace it without batting an eyelash - its that addictive and superior to other players. It's truly an awesome gadget and an excellent gift idea - anyone would be delighted to open this!

I purchased the 30 gig Windows iPod the day it hit the market, blissfully unaware of all the problems encountered by owners of previous versions. My experience getting the thing working was a moderate hassle, but I'm happy to say that it's working great now, and it's simply the most incredible little machine! However, I can understand and sympathize with those who have had difficulty getting the software and hardware to interact. Apple definitely is not terribly interested in the concerns of Windows users.

As many iPod owners have experienced, the Musicmatch software for Windows is terrible. The software simply won't work with my Gateway PC (later I learned from an Apple drone, as others have pointed out, that the software is only confirmed compatible with Dell and Sony PCs sporting a specific Firewire card). That's unacceptible to advertise a product for the PC without making it crystal clear that it will only work with a limited number of specific machines. Apple should rethink their marketing strategy for Windows users, or figure out how to refine the iPod so it works cleanly with any Windows-based system.

However, the freeware product Ephpod came to the rescue. This is a simple to use, easily installed program that interfaces beautifully with the iPod on Windows, and does the job of Musicmatch perfectly. I've now uninstalled Musicmatch, and I've had no problems since. Ephpod manages the transfer of your music library effortlessly and cleanly.

Now that the iPod is up and running, I can't imagine how I've lived without it. I have around 700 CDs, and it's incredible to be able to carry around the bulk of my collection on such a small, inconspicuous device. The user interface is nice, it's easy to catalog and access your songs, and it fits right inside your shirt pocket. Simply awesome.

I have a few additional nits. First, the earbuds that come with the iPod aren't the greatest soundwise, so other headphones are recommended. Second, the advertised battery life is up to 8 hours, but I find the iPod drains the battery much more quickly. I'm hoping the Belkin battery pack will fix this problem. Third, the iPod consistently requires resetting for various reasons. The manual states that this resets everything to factory settings, but that's never happened to me, every time I reset, all my previous settings remain. Perhaps that's a function of using Ephpod, I'm not sure, but restting has never created issues for me (besides irritation). Finally, the touch pads for scrolling the menus, while nice, are a tad sensitive, and take some time to get used to. However, this is just a small annoyance, and, on balance, the touchpads are pretty slick.

I feel the pain of those Windows users that have struggled with iPod, but there is hope, perhaps, for those who persevere. Because of the issues that exist, I've rated iPod only 3 stars, there is lots of room for improvement. But now that I'm up and running, the resultant music-listening experience is definitely 5 stars.

I never bought any Apple hardware products before so I was a bit apprehensive about getting this iPod. The reason I finally made the jump was the groundswell of good opinions from people I trust that were giving rave reviews about iPod, and the fact that I have an explosions of CDs that needed some semblance of order and organization.

Well, I have been using the iPod 30GB for 2 weeks now and bottom line is: get it. I am not going to rehash all the common positive things you'll hear in most reviews but the highlights for me for my iPod 30GB were (a) nth degree cool factor; (b) solidly built; (c) great user interface esp. with no visible mechanical moving parts; (d) sheer capacity; (e) optimum size to capacity to weight to price ratio (you'll be hard pressed to find anything close to this at this time); and (f) great charge window per use and battery life per charge.

Any downsides? Of course - confusing setup for Windows as I had to go through rounds and rounds of experimentation to get the software to work. There were weird errors all over the place. I also had the latest MusicMatch on my PC so the install croaked big time. I am running Windows 2000 and MusicMatch 8.1.

So lessons learned for Windows users: (1) definitely get and use a Firewire card (these are dirt cheap at around $15); (2) download the latest iPod software from apple.com from the outset, forget the CD; (3) use software to restore and reformat the whole iPod; (4)when you already have MusicMatch just have the Apple software attempt the install anyway, it will fail but just ignore it; (5) make sure you are running the latest MusicMatch version and then download the iPod2 plug-in off the MM site. That's it. (Suggestion to Apple - make the install clearer by providing option to break the install process to explicit smaller steps and components).

It's not as bad as what it sounds like here. Once you go past the first hurdle, you're all set. I spent a big sum of money on this and it does take some effort to get just right. But what's a few hours of "install pain investment" worth considering that in return, it offers you a lifetime of enjoyment and convenience.

Still giving it a 5 despite some cursing on my part during the install. But an hour or two of hassles is still worth it. I love this thing!

Other reviewers have heaped well-deserved praise on the iPod itself, so it is worth briefly noting that Apple's customer support does not match the quality of its product design. For the many shoppers who are from the Windows world but are now contemplating getting an iPod after being impressed by the clean easy to use iTunes user interface -- beware! Don't expect overnight shipping of the sort you've come to expect with virtually every Windows peripheral or device and don't expect the same service -- automatic refunds for defective products, cross-shipping of replacements, etc. -- either. Apple's customer support is virtually non-existent.

If everything works with your iPod, you may never have to deal directly with Apple and should consider yourself lucky, but even if you are just considering buying it's worth noting: avoid Apple and buy from someone else -- like Amazon -- instead (unless you want to wait weeks and weeks for your iPod to show up).

I'm a music lover, but I lack the obsession that early adopters in the MP3 player world tend to have. I don't download from Napster-like sites, I don't craft playlists (yet), I don't spend my waking hours with my mix cranking in my eardrums.

Thus, I missed the iPOD completely the first time around.

What caught my eye with the new 30 GB iPOD is the following:

- 7500 song capacity (that's around 700 CDs of music)
- Dual Win/Mac platform support
- Supports USB 2.0 and Firewire (dock with cable for USB 2.0 will be out in July)
- Tiny and lightweight
- 8 hour battery life

This combination made this a winner for me---I could now put my paltry 200 CD music collection in one place, accessible to me at any time.

I travel a lot for work, so the prospect of being able to hear anything I want to hear on the long, boring flights was certainly welcome.

I dropped a Firewire/USB 2.0 card in my computer (about $79). Installing the iPOD software took 2 minutes; after that, I used the MusicBox application to begin ripping CDs. A typical CD takes less than 5 minutes to transfer this way versus 10-15 using RealPlayer.

Aside from having to wait a few moments for the system to recognize the iPOD attached, transfer to the iPOD went off without a hitch. I moved some 50 CDs over to the iPOD in about 10 minutes through my FireWire; at least, it was done by the time I checked on it 10 minutes later.

The iPOD works great on headphones, through my car audio (used one of those cassette headphone adapters for that), through PC speakers, and through my stereo. The audio quality is CD-level, insofar as I can discern.

The packaging is a thing of beauty (as is the unit and accessories, as one would expect from Apple). The instructions are clear and a quick reference guide is included.

The only negatives I can come up with involve the dual power/docking cord being in a slightly different configuration than your typical FireWire cable---it limits you to using this one cable for everything or buying another. Also, Apple offers no equivalent to its iTunes music store for purchasing single downloads to PC users as of yet.

This is a sensational product with virtually unlimited potential---I for one am going to push a bunch of my Powerpoint presentations over to it so as to have them on the road. This'll cut down on my having to carry a bunch of data CDs with me and there's plenty of room on the iPOD to carry them plus my CD collection.

Highly recommended.

Okay, the Ipod is expensive, but it is worth every penny. A friend said why are you buying a $500 walkman. It's nothing like a walkman -- it can become one of the only ways you listen to music. I had had a rio 500, that at most stored 60 minutes, and usually 40 minutes of music. The 30 GB Ipod stores 20 days of music. 20 DAYS!!! Can you comprehend that? You can basically put 7000 songs, or an entire 200-300 collection in a little box. Forget about shlepping a CD player and cds with you. In fact, I think this is the beginning of not using CDs any more. Besides using the very powerful earphones when you go hiking... or the gym... I plug it into my stereo instead of my 6 cd changer... and used a belkin cassette adapter to use it instead of my 6 cd changer in my car. Why do you need CDs any more, when you can decide what type of music you want on the fly (not while driving). And then, get small speakers and use it in your bedroom too. You can also use it as a portable hard drive... save ALL your documents. ANd it has a sync for contacts and a calendar. Forget about palm... this is easier to sync on the mac than palm (granted you can't change contacts.) It comes in reality to about 27 G, not 30... and I had some trouble syncing to the mac on my imac 500, but the use value overweighs the negative factors. If you have about 5000 songs, I still would pay the extra money for the 30 GB, because you can easily fill it up. And the coolest thing is that it glows in the dark.

Now that Apple has released iTunes for Windows, PC owners have no reason not to get an iPod. I waited until the iTunes for Windows was released, because I've known others who had trouble syncing their iPods using MusicMatch. When I first set up my iPod, I tried MusicMatch and found the syncing to be slow and cumbersome. With iTunes, a firewire card and my iPod, I'm one happy camper. My iPod goes everywhere I go. I love it.

Some words of advice, get a protective cover for your iPod and save on battery life by creating playlists instead of using the menu's forward and backward keys to select music. Launch a playlist and lock the controls on your iPod and the battery will go for hours without a charge. Also, don't drain your battery down to nothing, top it off and recharge whenever you can. Trust me, these batteries will last longer if you don't drain and recharge. It's not like a cell phone battery that gets a memory.

Ok, so I was a bit slow come around to the most expensive toy I've owned for some time. Silly me. As a PC owner, I stood by the sidelines and watched the world bash Apple for the iPod being non PC and then not working well when it was finally allowed to touch the world of Mr. Gates! Well, all I can say is that MusicMatch installed to my IBM Thinkpad with Win2kPro along with a cheap-[ ] PCMCIA Firewire from Fry's and within about 10 minutes time I was in the process of loading 20mb of music on my 30mb iPod!!! My installation was painless!
MusicMatch is not bad music management software. It works for me probably because I READ the manual and the Review boards to learn about its quirks. (I am waiting to try ephpod and MusicX softwares to see if they are any faster)
Let's just say that inspite of not being perfect, the iPod is the most comfortable way to carry an incredible amount of music nearly anyplace! It was my link to sanity while traveling on English trains for the better part of a month!
The battery life is close enough to 8 hours to be ok and there are a couple of battery pack options should you need to fly for more than 8 hours. The worldwide poweradapter is so small that I just keep that handy along with the interchangeable plugs and a quick power-up is only an hour away. Earbuds and other accessories are better than average. Better earbuds and earphones only make the iPod sound better. What would make this better... uhhh a better display and the ability to support USB 2.0 out of the box. Speaking of which... the process of opening the box of the iPod is so well engineered and thought out that it is an experience that rivals Christmas morning. I am not ready to give up my Thinkpad but this little gem makes me think that Apple has plenty of life left to be a player in the digital arts for time to come! Spend the extra money... you will only regret settling for something that is not as good as the iPod.

I got mine in the mail today....I have to say that I already purchased a 5 GB and a 10 GB Pod before, of which I gave one away to my girlfriend, so don't think I am completely nuts.

It "FEELS" different, smoother around the edges, you don't want to put it down, except maybe to get rid of the smudges (which I think Apple should really work on)...the glowing controls are a nice touch, but I think one has to get used to operating it once in a while with your other hand, especially the "rewind" button, faaaaar stretch!

If you thought the display was slightly BLUE-lit, well...no, I thought the same but its white (again) which doesn't deduct any points in style. I went RUNNING with it, didn't skip during my hour of running and walking, I yet have to see how the BATTERY holds up...which was always a big issue on either one of the previous models.

GAMES? well, if you really want games get something else, but they reduce short-time boredom at the dentist, while looking like a fool, bc everyone thinks you are just looking at your strange white thing in complete awe....

The on-the-go PLAYLIST feature is highly useful, especially if you have to take longer trips by train/plane, etc....
Its lesser WEIGHT makes a difference...it feels like a small notepad in a pocket, since we will probably have to wait until new cases and jackets come out, thats probably the place to be...pockets.

The DOCK has rubber underneath that it doesn't slip, nice feature, I don't get why the remote control needs an extra plug-in at the top right next to the headphone connector, the old ones worked fine with the remote without any additional connectors, but I guess there must be a good reason...

Conclusion, if you have [money] to spare, love overall smoothness, red lights which dimm down slowly, on the go playlists, a customizable main menu, tons of music to choose from...tadadada, get it, enjoy the unwrapping and play with it...