Rating: 
Summary: ipod is OK. hoping for advances in future models
Review: I have had my 10GB ipod since Sept. 2003 and I bought it for $300 and had to also buy an FM transmitter, cables for my computer (I have a PC, not Mac), a carrying case (for running, etc.) and a car charger. Thus, the price was somewhere around $375, plus I bought the extended warranty from the store because I knew these were fragile items.
The basic FM transmitter isn't as good as the ITRIP, but it was sufficient. The battery life in that thing stinks though.
I accidentally knocked my ipod off of the treadmill in its carrying case and it broke. I was pretty mad considering I used to throw my tape player all over the place and nothing ever happened. i miss tapes.
anyway, i believe that the ipod should come with a few more features, like a built in FM transmitter and an FM receiver for listening to the radio. i also think its a bit pricy. sometimes it freezes for no reason and sometimes the software for my PC does not synchronize well with the ipod and i have to restart.
i find the ipod pretty easy to use, but it is very fragile and could still use some work. i hope the future models will be better. now i cannot buy a 10GB, i have to get a 15GB, but Apple does not seem to be doing anything to their newer models to make them much better. More music is better, but there are no new added features.
I might try a new mp3 player in the meantime until apple gets their act together. since all these mp3 players are so new, you can't expect any of them to be perfect. i will take a "wait and see" attitude with the ipod. not that i don't recommend it. its the only mp3 player i have ever had, so i have nothing to compare it to.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning to all potential buyers...
Review: This is a load of crap. I got it as a christmas present.. and now it's february.. so i've only had this thing for 3 months. Well, at first it was all right and all.. but now it's officially DEAD. I have yet to send it in to be repaired and i'm not sure if i want to considering my dad paid so much for this skimpy thing that fails to deliver after only 3 months. I get tired waiting for songs to upload and furthermore, the battery life drains so fast. i started out w/ an ok battery (the battery would go down one bar after about 30 songs) to battery life of an imposter duracell bunny (less than 20 songs and it's down one bar) well great, my ipod died completely when i tried to listen to it a few days ago. it's not responding to snything. i see some ppl think it's great and it has worked out well for them but i really think this is a hit-or-miss product. Either it works for you or it dies within a few months. I have heard other stories of people's ipod dying within a few months and even though there's a one-year warranty, the person still had to pay for some repairs. So buyers beware.. make sure you know what you're getting yourself into!
Edit: I got a replacement ipod... had to transfer all the songs over to it... moreover, it just died again. So this stupid thing has died TWICE in less than SIX MONTHS.
Rating: 
Summary: Great music, great fun, but not scratch resistant
Review: Received my iPod as a Christmas gift. An amazing product. Pleasantly surprised by how good it sounds. How much music it holds. How easy it is use. How good it feels in your hand or pocket. My only complaint is that it scratches very easily. I strongly recommend that you buy a case for this when you buy the device. My new iPod started showing scratches by Christmas night. I you don't have a case for it, be sure sure you don't put it in a coat pocket with your car keys or a nail clipper.
Rating: 
Summary: Proof that there was a crash in Area 51!
Review: ...and they loved music. This product must have been reverse engineered...it's that good. I've been listening to MP3's on portable players since the Diamond 32MB. I'm an absolute music junkie and use these players to get me to (and keep me in) the gym everyday. The iPod (of which I've owned 2 previous models) is hands down the best portable on the market. Combine with the Apple owned iTunes site (this sounds like a commercial but...). They work phenomenal together. I have a PC. If you do to, make sure you buy the PC version. Also, it's much easier if your PC has a Firewire port (kind of like a USB port but wider and shorter). If it doesn't, and you're not computer savvy, you might want to avoid iPod (as painful as that is to say). Daily use is great. The keys themselves are heat sensitive, which is cool (no pun..), but can be a pain when you get the song you want, go to put in your pants, and accidently touch a key. Other than that, flawless. Very intuitive buttons, very intuitive menu, and beautiful looks. If you need more than 10GB of space, you're probably a target for the RIAA and will be sued any day now... I have 700 hundred songs and use about 25% of the available storage on this unit. I can't say enough good things about this thing!
Enjoy...
Rating:
Summary: Best there is!!!
Review: Just got the 10-gig iPod last Friday (picked up at a great sale price as Apple is dropping 10-gig in favor of "mini" and "15-gig"). All I can say is awesome. I never had Apple before and was skeptical based on some of the Amazon reviews. But all my fears were erased. I have a 6 month-old Compaq at home and had no problems getting the two to sync up. Literally "plug and play". Bonus is, if your Windows PC has a newer fire-wire port, it will even charge your iPod while downloading music. I have almost 1,000 songs (75+ albums) on it right now, and using just under 4-gig. I read a lot about people having problems sync-ing their window-based PCs to iPod. Based on my experience, I can only guess they are using older PCs and insist on using USB2 or even old USB. One tip, if you're "ripping" CDs to put on your iPod, be logged into the web. I-tunes will literally fill out all the song/track information for you (a little tid-bit I found by accident). Also, regarding the reviews where people "e-mail" Apple and have horrible customer service stories.... check out the Apple web-site. You can't e-mail Apple. You must call them directly or join one of the discussion chat-groups (which I've used, and are very helpful).
Rating: 
Summary: Great when it works
Review: I got an ipod as a gift in July 2003, and had some problems with the software, and getting my computer to recognize the device, etc. I had read a user review on Amazon stating that the software was "flakey", and I didn't know what that meant until I got my ipod. When it works, it really is great, I like the design and used it everyday, but it took a fair bit of tinkering around to get it to work. The directions weren't helpful at all. A previous reviewer wrote that he couldn't run with his ipod because it froze up constantly. I run with mine everyday and have not had this problem. I had some problems with the Music Match software. Sometimes it would duplicate songs, and I could only delete one version. I had to restore my ipod to factory settings a few times to remove duplicate versions of songs. Apple came out with iTunes for Windows a few months after I got my ipod, and I've found it to be easier to use. My ipod died completely, even though the battery was fully charged, in December 2003. It didn't work for a few days, then I was able to revive it. This happened 3 times before I sent it back. Apple customer service kind of sucks, there is no 800 number to call for support, you have to register on their web site and email your problems in. Within a few days of emailing Apple, I received a shipping box in the mail to return my ipod. I sent it back and received a new ipod in less than a week. I'm kind of skeptical that my new ipod will last any longer than the old one, but maybe I had a dud. With the problems I've had, I can't really recommend the ipod, but it really is great when it works. Definitely read the other user reviews before purchasing one though.
Rating:
Summary: AWSOME!
Review: This MP3 player ROCKS! My friend with a Mac got a 20gb model for christmas, and I thought it was really cool, so i disided to get one for christmas. I picked up a USB 2.0 cable, and it works great with my Windows XP Compaq computer system. It looks cool, sounds great, and the transfers are really fast. It has my entire music collection and I have only used a fith of its Hard Drive. The games are also very fun, and I succed in transfering all of my contacts from Palm Desktop without much trouble. If you are thinking about buying an MP3 player, iPod is THE BEST!
Rating:
Summary: iPod is an unreliable piece of junk
Review: I bought a new iPod and only used it for a few months before the hard drive failed. It is now dead.... I've sent it in for repairs, but I'll probably be on the hook for hundreds of dollars to get it fixed. This is not a relaible device. If you are looking for something to use for active sports like skiing, etc. my advice is to look elsewhere. For the time being, I'm back to using my old Creative Labs Nomad 3, which I've had for years and has held up quite well, unlike my iPod which has failed in an embarassingly short amount of time. Shame on you Steve Jobs!
Rating:
Summary: Very good MP3 player
Review: This is the first piece of Apple hardware that I've ever owned. While there were some challenges to overcome in getting it to work with my PC, once I got past them, it's been a great player. The standard earbuds produce much better sound than I expected (even if they aren't the most comfortable to wear in your ears). I found the interface very intuitive to use. Building playlists on the fly, skipping tracks, adjusting volume, etc are all very simple as a result. The only complaint I have with the hardware is that the battery life isn't quite what I expected. But it's been good enough to pass the time on many a plane flight.
The integration with MusicMatch (still my favorite music collection software on the PC) was pretty good, but iTunes for Windows integrates far better. It does a great job of replicating the interface of the iPod, and makes great use of the screen real estate. The smart playlists are its best feature. The graphic equalizer works very well also.
I'm glad I bought it. If you're in the market for an MP3 player, I highly recommend the iPod. The 15GB version might be the best deal, since you get the remote and the dock as well.
Rating:
Summary: iTunes for Windows is unstable
Review: I just bought one of these and the iTunes application consistenly crashes my XP system. Hard to know what to do since Apple doesn't provide phone support. I'm in reboot hell and seriously considering returning the product.
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