New Ipods - my impression

[backtoipod]

Ok so i have given up on Sony and after seeing the new Ipods i thought i would give them a go again ( i have owned in order of pref - 1g shuffle, 3g ipod , 4g ipod , 4gb 1g Nano and my new 3g Nano).
Went to new Glasgow Apple store and spent an hour playing with them, i was planning on buying a classic but walked out with a Nano.
Why? The classic in its current state is too slow, every menu change takes about a second with some taking longer, Coverflow is crap on the classic its no fun browsing question marks!
I also managed to replicate the skipping song issue by jumping menus a lot - not good.
The Nano is much better UI wise, the coverflow will still grey out if you scroll really fast but it updates MUCH quicker than the classic, i cant make it jump either.

So i bought the Nano!

Itunes is much better than the old version but you still cant sort albums by file path - really annoying!!!!!!! - maybe someone knows how?

[Sancroff]

The performance issues make me question whether there will ever be a hard disk version of the Touch. Flash memory is so much faster.

[Scarpad]

The performance issues make me question whether there will ever be a hard disk version of the Touch. Flash memory is so much faster.


I don't think there ever will be. We'll get larger Flash versions Eventually, First to 32gb I'm sure, but they'll keep it flash

[homeboy]

The performance issues make me question whether there will ever be a hard disk version of the Touch. Flash memory is so much faster.

The performance issue with the iPod classic isn't as a result of the hard drive. The Classic has software issues.

[backtoipod]

The performance issue with the iPod classic isn't as a result of the hard drive. The Classic has software issues.

the software issues only explain the crashes, corrupt album art maybe , the sluggishness is harddrive related. Try one and listen to that drive spin up evertime you move the clickwheel..

[paranoidxe]

the software issues only explain the crashes, corrupt album art maybe , the sluggishness is harddrive related. Try one and listen to that drive spin up evertime you move the clickwheel..

Bull, its a firmware issue guaranteed, If you've owned the FIRST 5th Gen it also suffered from lag issues until a firmware update later fixed it. Perhaps the current firmware isn't optimally using the buffer.

The Classics should have a large enough buffer to handle coverflow I mean after all your album art takes what roughly 30-40K each and for a 64MB buffer ..hardly enough to overfill the buffer and cause delay from the hard drive, at 40K a piece thats 1600 album art pictures.
I'd imagine the Classics got a buffer update anyway.

Flash is faster I'm not arguing that, but there are a few reviews out there saying that the nano also suffers from lag.

[backtoipod]

I am not saying they wont fix or at least improve it but sometimes products are released that have hardware limitations , usually companies write software to match and not exceed those constaints.
Guess we will have to wait and see...
After using the Nano for a few days i can confirm some lag with album art, sometimes they dont appear at all when playing songs and coverflow takes a second to fill in the art sometimes.
I have also had the coverflow become corrupt with pink and green thatched mess everywhere, this was remedied by menu selct reset, this has happened only once.
Overall though i prefer the new nano to the old , the video is surprisingly watchable , i watch mainly south park , family guy on the way to/from work and it is fine for that.

[MyLifeGear.com]

I think the cover flow feature, although beautiful, is the culprit for many of the performance issues. I have noticed that the first track in every album, when selected with cover flow, tends to have a small skip in it approximately 2 seconds into playback. It plays perfectly on every track forward. I just use the classic menu selection instead now and no skipping. Hopefully we will see some improvements in the next firmware release.

[nvr-brkn]

I don't even use cover flow, personally, simply because I'm more into songs, and not artists. Meaning, that I know the different songs by an artist, but I don't know/care what CD they came from, so I usually wind up deleting whatever is in the album box-thing for a lot of the songs in my library.

And I've never really been a fan of having album art on my iPod :/ Again, probably because a lot of the album art is a big "?"

If anyone knows how to change the default unknown album art (assuming I could create a picture in Photoshop and select that as the default album), I'd be really happy =) Because as it is, right now, the album art on my iPod is seen by me as nuisance, since I have to wait for the iPod to scroll for the song title.

I'm also not a playlist/genre (I deleted those too [[sheepish grin]])/composer (was too lazy to delete all of these) person, so I generally tend not to notice all the flaws that everyone else notices (because I don't use the same features).

I do actually use my iPod to watch videos (well, TV shows, really). Usually I do this when I'm lying in bed. I plug in my iPod to a wall charger, plug in computer speakers, and use a binder clip as a stand for it. It's really not bad for video.

I think the reason everyone thinks it'll be bad for video is because they're used to having smaller size meaning crappier video, because that's how it works on the computer. It's really not so with the Nano. The quality is really sharp and easy to see. You don't have to squint your eyes or anything.

However, that being said, watching video out in the daylight is hard to do. The sun gets in the way. So, I think this is supposed to be more of an "for use in enclosed location" feature.
Unless, of course, someone does a DIY project to block the iPod's screen from the sun. I haven't seen any so far, but I haven't been looking, since I only watch the video when I'm in bed.

I have also had the coverflow become corrupt with pink and green thatched mess everywhere
That actually sounds kind of pretty :D But, being a person with little patience, I can completely understand how it would be annoying and a pain in the donkey.

[falp]

Well... I bought an IPOD Nano G3 8Gb to replace my Shuffle G1......

Awesome little machine, but I think I regret it...

Maybe I'll trade (if I can!) for the IPOD Shuffle G2... much more simple to ride my motorbike with and on the go and the on the beach with sand without extra remotes needed!

I'm riding with my girlfriend's iPOD Shuffle G2 today... this simple thing ROCKs anywhere! :D

Why so many useless functions if music is what matters most?

[nvr-brkn]

Why so many useless functions if music is what matters most?

To be honest, I have an iPod because everyone else does. I want the ability to sync my play counts on an MP3 player with last.fm, and the easiest way to do so is to get the hardware that everyone and their mom has, and then wait for a hack to come out.

I used to have a Nano 1g, but then I lost it. And I wanted a Nano ever since then, because I *love* Rockbox. I have a Nano 3g now (I got it for my birthday! :D It's name is iGod, cause I'm clever and witty like that :P), and I'm patiently waiting for someone to crack the firmware =) I can live without Rockbox, but I desperately want to be able to uncap the volume =)

Yes, I realize I'll lose my hearing, but it'll happen when I'm like 60. I'm planning on only living until my health starts to deteriorate (ie : kidneys fail, cancer that can't be treated, I'm no longer "there" mentally, etc), so it won't be that big of a deal to me anyways ;)

Besides, we're all going to lose our hearing sometime. If not by blasting music into our ears with headphones, then by going to the movie theater. Now, they have really loud volume in there (which is why I often bring noise canceling headphones, so I can hear at a more comfortable volume :|).

[falp]

To be honest, I have an iPod because everyone else does.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[nvr-brkn]

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
It's not like that!! As I said, it's so I can get the hack to sync my song count with last.fm.

Actually, I find it annoying that everyone else has the exact same thing as me, cause if you report it lost about all you can say is "It looks like all the other iPods..."

[falp]

Finally managed to trade my Nano G3 for a new Shuffle G2.

I'm Happy now! :D


Nothing like a K.I.S.S.... Keep It Simple Stupid...:D