Requisite iPod Touch Entry
Categories iPod
Through a rather odd turn of events, I'm now the proud owner of a 32GB iPod Touch. Looks like I'll no longer be using my trusty 20GB iPod 4G (sigh). Anyways, I've been using it for several days now and it's great. I actually wrote a full review, but decided it was too long and way too boring. So I've boiled it down to some highlights.
Design
- The iPod Touch is incredibly thin, yet feels really solid.
- The Sleep/Wake button is super useful and perfectly placed. I love it.
- Love that the headphone jack is on the bottom.
- The iPod Touch looks really plain though, it almost doesn't look like an Apple product. There's nothing cute about the iPod Touch; the dark bezel seems really out of character for an iPod.
Music Playback
- Double tapping the "Home" button displays music playback controls (play/pause, next, previous, and volume) from any application or even sleep. It's fast and easy to use, but I still wish the Touch had volume buttons on the side like the iPhone, and a third for play/pause.
- Coverflow sorts albums by artist THEN album, it's awesome!
- Music playback is fast thanks to flash memory.
- Wish I could put music shortcuts (e.g. artists, shuffle songs) on the home screen. This thing may run OS X, but it's still an iPod.
Podcast Playback
- A blue dot is displayed next to any podcasts you haven't started playing which is really helpful to tell which ones you've started but not finished.
- It doesn't display podcast descriptions. Boo.
- Using the scrubber to seek to a certain point is a little tricky on a hour long podcast. One trick I've found is to tap the scrubber, then slide my finger down. The scrubber still drags, but it's easier to position without your finger in the way.
Safari
- Best portable web browser.
- Text and images look amazingly crisp and clear.
- Wish it could save passwords, with a master password like Firefox.
- Embedded YouTube videos should launch in the YouTube application. Seems like a no-brainer... Does it already do this, somebody clue me in...
Photos and Videos
- Hi-res photos become low-res when you transfer them to the iPod Touch. Not sure if there's a workaround for this yet.
- Video playback is fine.
- I think David Lynch has it right, I can't imagine watching a movie on the Touch or really anything longer than 45 minutes. Still, I've been known to do crazy things when I'm bored...
Other
- The Weather application rocks.
- Using this thing can't help but make you want an iPhone.
- Can't wait for "official" apps.
- Also, I really wish I could save PDFs, web pages, and other files to it.
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Comments
Another question Greg:
Is there a way to view the whole title of video files? I have all the 4 seasons of The Office but I am only able to view "The Office S02x1" instead of "The Office S02x12"..something like that... Is there a setting for this? The new ipod classic has it so that the title scrolls across I believe...
BTW, I love reading your blog!!!
Posted by: suhhee | April 2, 2008 03:59 AM
You just need to put that info (season, episode number, etc) in the right fields of the ID3 tag then iPod touch should display it correctly. In iTunes right click on one of your videos and choose "Get Info" then click the "Info" tab. Here's how you want to set up the fields:
Name = episode title or number (e.g. Episode 12 or Branch Wars)
Artist = TV show name (e.g. The Office)
Album Artist = also the TV show name
Album = season (e.g. Season 2)
Then when you transfer the video to the iPod touch it should display all that information correctly. It looks quite nice too.
Posted by: getgreg | April 2, 2008 09:28 AM