Four Stars For The iPod Classic: Tested and reliable

Christopher Breen of MacWorld UK takes a look at the Second generation iPod classic and gives it a four-star rating. It’s got lots great storage capacity, terrific battery performance, Genius playlist support, browse album and artist features, a bright display, and it charges with a FireWire connection. So, although it might be missing some of the features like spoken menus or the accelerometer, it is still a great piece of equipment.

Breen says, “The iPod classic has the best gigabyte-to-dollar ratio of any display-bearing iPod at just £1.49 per gigabyte of storage, compared to the worst ratio being the 8GB iPod touch, which demands £21.12 per gigabyte. It has the largest storage capacity at 120GB (approximately 30,000 4-minute tracks encoded at 128Kbps AAC). It also offers impressive continuous audio playtime at 42 hours and 17 minutes; video playback also exceeded Apple’s six-hour estimate.”

So what is new about it? It supports the Genius playlist feature. “Select a song you want to build a related playlist around, press and hold the Center button, and a screen appears that offers these choices: Start Genius, Add to On-The-Go, Browse Album, Browse Artist, and Cancel. Choose Start Genius, press the Center button and the iPod creates a playlist of 25 related tracks. You can save the Genius playlist by selecting Save Playlist and a new playlist is created with the name of the selected track. To populate the playlist with other tracks related to your originally selected track, select the Refresh command in the Genius playlist screen and press the Center button.The Add to On-The-Go command indicates how On-The-Go playlist creation has changed on the latest iPod classic. Select the item you want to add to the On-The-Go playlist and press and hold the Center button. In the resulting screen, select that Add to On-The-Go command, and press Center again.”

Other additions are the Browse Album and Browse Artist commands. “Just as with these commands on the 4G iPod nano, they make it easy for those shuffling through their music collection to quickly move to the album or artist from which the currently playing track comes. I’ve longed for this feature during those “I love this song, I wish I could listen to the rest of the album in the press of a button!” moments.”

Other small improvements include a rougher surface to the clickwheel, which helps your finger to grip a little better. Its display is also a little brighter and “cooler”, meaning that the light is more blue in tone. Breen also points out that the 2G iPod classic is the only current iPod which charges with a FireWire connection. “If you have a lot invested in older iPod accessories that charge an iPod over FireWire, keep this in mind.”

In general, the classic remains the classic. Those who already have one may not find reason to trade it in for the second generation model. But those who have only the smaller iPods might find that it is a worthy purchase. It’s a fabulous way to hold a LOT of music and other media, and the improvements made to it add to its stature in the iPod line. It’s sort of the Cary Grant of iPods, you might say. Or, if that’s reaching too far back into the old Hollywood references, let’s say the George Clooney of iPods? Elegant, ageless and eternally cool.

Apple’s Second-Generation iPod Touch

AppleInsider’s Prince McLean offers an extensive review of the second generation iPod touch, saying that this 2008 model inches closer to the iPhone line while retaining its iPod branding.

With new audio input and recording features, a speaker, volume controls and a variety of bundled apps, including Nike+support, it is something of a different, if hybrid, animal.

McLean writes,”When the iPod touch debuted last year, we warned that it wasn’t really the “iPhone without the phone” that many assumed it would be. Apple seemed to be too wary of creating any product confusion between its new iPhone and the existing iPod line, and made a series of compromises on the touch intended to create artificial differentiation.”

Like all previous iPods, the original iPod touch had no audio output speaker, and therefore no volume rocker buttons or silent switch. The iPhone had such a speaker, as well as a fourth conductor on its headphone jack, which made it impossible for the iPod touch to work with the iPhone’s mic-integrated headphones for audio recording and the play, pause and ‘click to skip’ remote control features. It also lacked iPhone’s mail app, Google Maps, Stocks and Weather and Notes. These missing features were offered months later, for a charge, and then bundled on new iPod touch units thereafter.

McLean states that this second generation iPod touch fills the software gaps and rounds out the missing hardware features. It has a new integrated speaker. This also allows the iPod touch to sound the same alarm and alert sounds as the iPhone. The touch still does not have a camera, GPA or mobile data network features. But in exchange, it has some “new tricks up its sleeve”. For instance, it offers the iTunes Genius feature, which allows you to automatically create a playlist of similar tracks which are based on a song you choose just by tapping the Genius atom icon. More heavily promoted are the apps and games. WiFi and the accelerometer support is included, writes McLean, “so the only iPhone software that would not be compatible with it are those that require a mobile data network, GPS, or camera. Most titles make efforts to ensure they are compatible with both, even if they can make use of features that are only on the iPhone.” In this sense, the iPod touch is positioned to compete with other hand-held gaming systems, and in that way create a niche for itself alone among the iPod/iPhone line of products.

To see the entire article, plus links to related articles, see: Apple insider

Apple’s Year-Over-Year Mac Quarterly Sales Projected Up 30%, iPods Up 8%

Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray estimated that Apple’s fourth fiscal quarter, which ends on September 30, will see sales of 2.8 to 2.9 million Macs and 11 million iPods, as well as about 4.2 million iPhones. This is based on data released on Tuesday by the NPD Group.

The Mac numbers, if accurate, will reflect year-to-year unit growth of between 29% to 34%. This is higher than Wall Street’s estimate of 25%, but is also down from the 43% year-to-year growth that the sales of Mac saw in July.

Munster suggests two possible reasons why Mac sales have decelerated in August. The first is that the Mac product line is due for an update. “The portables are late in their product lifecycles,” he writes. The on-going whispers about the anticipated new MacBooks may also be slowing things down, Mr. Munster. The expectation of a forthcoming product refresh is putting some purchasing on hold. Sources have been reporting is that we can anticipate new MacBooks by mid-October.

The second reason Munster suggests is that the overall consumer environment is “negatively impacting Apple’s business,” something he suspects will not change any time soon, given the economic meltdown that is still happening this week. However, if we take a look at Paul Carton’s and Jim Woods’ co-written article for ChangeWave, we see that, while PC buying is remaining weak among consumers, those who plan to buy new equipment in the next 90 days claim they are buying Apple. Carton reports, “Apple planned purchases for the next 90 days have hit a new all-time high for both Laptops (34%; up 2-pts) and Desktops (30%; up 3-pts).” This would support the speculation that purchasers are poised, waiting for the new product line.

The 11 million iPod sales estimated for this quarter would represent a year-to-year increase of 8% — which is ahead of Wall Street’s 6% consensus estimate. Munster points out that this is lower than the double- and triple-digit growth of recent years. He doesn’t take into consideration the fact that buyers were waiting for the “Let’s Rock” event on September 9, expecting price changes and redesigns of the iPod line. He probably also fails to consider that the extraordinary number of iPhone purchases this summer were also music-player purchases. The sales of the new iPod line will give us a clearer picture of how well the segment is really performing, but must always now be considered in connection with the sales of the iPhone.

The amazing iPhone sales numbers over the summer may be slowing down, but that’s to be expected. And since there is still a projected 4.2 million sales for this quarter, it is clear that the demand still exists. In fact, Carton and Woods see the 3G iPhone as producing a “Halo” effect on other Apple sales, most particularly on Mac sales. “We also asked whether Apple’s recent release of its 3G iPhone has made respondents more or less likely to buy an Apple Mac computer in the future. A total of 17% say they’re now more likely to buy an Apple laptop or desktop in the future because of the 3G iPhone; only 1% said less likely. These highly positive findings point to the 3G iPhone having at least some “Halo” effect on Mac sales going forward.”

In this terribly frightening economic climate, the performance of Apple products is nothing short of astonishing. It is Carton’s and Woods’ perspective that make the most sense. They write,”The key takeaway from these survey results is that consumer electronics spending will remain weak over the next 90 days. The one bright spot is Apple, whose Mac sales are outperforming and are poised to once again reach new all-time highs.”

Apple’s 4G iPod Nano Is Cool and Versatile

Jeremy Horwitz reviewed Apple’s newest iPod Nano for iLounge and gave it high marks for price, features and style. He calls it “an excellent new mid-range media player—one that continues to lead its competitors, and suffers only by comparison with larger, more expensive devices.”

The iPod nano occupies that mid-range space in Apple’s family of iPods. It is mid-priced: larger and higher-priced with more capacity than the screenless iPod shuffle. But it is smaller, more “aggressively priced” and packaged in a choice of beautiful colors that set it apart from the larger hard disk-based iPod classic or the flash-based iPod touch. Horwitz writes, “ It has just enough storage capacity to hold the average user’s entire collection of songs and/or some videos at respectable bitrates, though traditionally neither its screen nor its audio quality were first-rate by Apple’s standards. Users came to consider it the ideal workout-ready iPod because of its small size, flash-based storage, and unique compatibility with the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, a jogging sensor that tracks a runner’s performance.”

This fourth-generation iPod nano has replaced the nearly square shape of the third-generation, with an anodized aluminum “candy bar body” of the second-generation iPod nano. There are nine wonderful colors to choose from — including a very nice plum/purple — and a great price. This incarnation of the nano flips on its side to become taller than wide, and now has an accelerometer which detects the device’s orientation. Videos and games will now only play when the nano is in wide mode. Everything else functions in tall orientation.

There is a capacity change — it has been doubled. An 8G nano holds 2,000 songs or about 8 hours of video for £109.00. The 16G nano holds 4,000 songs or 16 hours of video for £149.00

The switch to a vertical screen orientation from the horizontal one has required re-engineering of the nano. Horwitz writes “The new menus have markedly larger on-screen text than before, yet display up to ten choices on the fourth-generation nano’s vertical screen versus nine on the prior nano. Additionally, the new nano can boost its font to an even larger size that has nine even larger choices; here, the text is as big as on the screen of the iPod classic. It appears that Apple can pick shortened menu words for the larger font size—a typo makes the game “Maze” display as “Mae” when the size is boosted—and there’s also a new voice prompting feature that lets visually disabled users navigate all of the menus, including song choices, with audio-overlapping voice prompting. This feature is activated in iTunes, downloading voice prompts directly to the iPod nano, and taking up space in the process; it works surprisingly well but won’t be desirable for most users, as it’s constantly playing on top of other audio.”

The nano can also sense its orientation and display certain content in its horizontal or vertical mode. This is thanks to the built-in accelerometer, which is a feature originally found in the iPhone and the iPod touch. “Photos, videos and games can be displayed in widescreen mode; photos can also be viewed in vertical mode. Extras, such as clocks, calendars, contacts, and notes, display only in vertical mode,” writes Horwitz. There are two additional features enabled by the accelerometer. The first is a menu option that allows you to activate “shake” mode, which lets you gently shake the nano in order to activate shuffled playback mode or navigate away from the current song. Although Horwitz said that he didn’t think much of it at first, it proves to be a useful feature when needing to change songs in a car, or when you need to change music quickly anywhere, for that matter. He also suggests that new iPod nano games might take advantage of the accelerometer for control.

So, the verdict? Horwitz thinks we’d be hard-pressed to find any other media play as cool and versatile for this price. He states, “If you’re looking for something small, full of features, and colorful, the fourth-generation iPod nano is a superb value. It’s worthy of our A- rating and high recommendation.”

Apple’s New iPod Range Gets Nod From Greenpeace

The environmental watch group, Greenpeace, has issued a press release praising Apple’s environmentally-friendly iPod range. At the “Let’s Rock” event on Tuesday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the improved range of iPods, including the new nano-chromatic and the redesigned iPod touch, all of which are free of the toxic chemicals PVC, BVRs and mercury. They are also using arsenic-free glass.

Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International campaigner states, “Greenpeace congratulates Apple for phasing out harmful chemicals like PVC and BFRs in its new, much greener iPods. But we know that Jobs and his team can go even further, and truly take a lead in greening the electronics industry.” He expresses a hope that this is only a “teaser” of what will come, and that in the future, there will be more environmentally-friendly design and construction in the Apple product lines, from iPhones to Macs.

“Apple’s announcement is also a good sign that it is serious about meeting its commitment to phase out PVC and BFRs from all of its products by the end of 2008,” Greenpeace said.

“Further, it shows - once again - that there is absolutely no reason why a high-performing electronics product needs to be toxic in order to be popular, effective and affordable - these are the cheapest iPods yet,” the campaigners explained.

Apple has taken a leadership role in the electronics industry, and Greenpeace hopes that it won’t mean complacency on the part of the company. “Greenpeace will stay vigilant, watching future Apple announcements and holding it accountable,” Harrell said. “What we’d really like for Christmas is to see Apple remove toxic chemicals from all its products, and announce a free, global recycling scheme. Now, that would make a very tasty green Apple indeed!”

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