MP3 Players : Apple iPod Video 60GB Black

I got the 60gb Ipod, and out of the box noticed it was the same thickness as my 20gb gen 3 Ipod, but a little wider, probably to accommodate the bigger screen. Connected it to my computer and started jammin it with videos, photos, and music. Overall video quality is outstanding. It's equal to the PSP quality, just on a smaller scale. The sound quality is the same as any other newer click wheel Ipod. It still has the same vulnerability to scratches as all of it predecessors, which I figure apple would have looked at. Maybe they didn't fix this flaw because they make money on all the after market cases. On a side note, I have to say this time they did add a nice little carrying type case for it, but while in it, you can't see the screen. Still have to go out and buy another case.

Overall it's a nice buy. With TIVO stating it will now start selling software so you can download your recordings to your Ipod, makes this a nice little portable entertainment center, because unlike the PSP you can connect this puppy to a tv. Hide Full Review

I replaced my old 3rd generation ipod with the new ipod, just to watch videos, i was looking forward to this release for about 6 months. I currently do not have usb 2.0 so i had to transfer all my songs over usb 1.1, yes it is slow but once you have the songs on the ipod it is not a big deal.
I have downloaded plenty of movies (music videos and episodes of lost) off of itunes.
All the disadvantages of the ipod are not very substantial to the ipod's design and user interface.
A must have. (especially 60 gigs because when they come out with full length videos, (don't say they won't, it is the same idea as a cd.) you will be very thankful you got the bigger one.) Hide Full Review

I've been an Apple fan for years. Not only do I love their computers and their software but I love the company as a whole. However, as much as I've always loved the company I never could bring myself to shell out the $300-$400 for an iPod and I knew that I wouldn't be happy with the smaller storage capacity offered by the Mini, Nano or Shuffle. So, when I recently had some extra Christmas cash I decided to take the plunge.

I knew these were great gadgets that, like most Apple products, had great design and usability ratings and I knew that they were high quality products. So, what did I think once I actually had my own and had a chance to use it? Read on.

From the moment I saw the new, smaller size of the iPod packaging compared to previous generations I knew that something was going to be different. I was right. Where as previous generations came with a dock (which required the larger square box) this 5th generation model does not and thus is in a much smaller box. Oh well, it was going to take more than that to dampen my excitement. I started opening the box and was impressed by the quality of the packaging. Everything was very securely tucked tightly away inside of the matte black box and there was no space wasted inside.

Once I turned the iPod on i was instantly impressed by the quality of the display. I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical of this beforehand. I was greatly relived to fine a very bright, high contrast display. Next I was ready to hook it up to my computer and start transferring my music.

First, a little about my situation. I have a computer at home and a computer at work in my office. On both computers I have LOTS of music but each computer has different selections so my music library is split and neither computer has enough spare space to house all of my music. That's one problem that I was really looking forward to solving with my iPod. One device that holds all of my music and then I can take it back and forth to work with me.

In short, the iPod DID solve this problem for me, but not in the way I had originally expected. Rather than automatically syncing with BOTH computers and doing the hard work to manage blocking duplicate songs, etc I was forced to choose one of the computers as the primary computer that i wanted to sync my iPod with. In the end I decided not to do any syncing and instead have all of the music on the iPod only, clearing lots of HD space on both of my computers. This ended up being an even better solution than I one I had envisioned.

As far as video, I've already ripped several of my DVDs onto my iPod and have even downloaded a couple from the iTunes Music Store. Video playback is great though I can envision some improvements to the video interface to take advantage of more of the Meta data.

One of my only complaints is that since I used my iPod first on my Windows machine at home at formatted the iPod for windows so I'm not able to update the software on the iPod (it must be formatted for Mac, which is what my work computer is). So, if I want to update my iPod's software I'm going to have to dump all of my music back onto my computer, restore/reformat my iPod for Mac and then put all of my music back on. I guess it might be worth it, but still a pain.

Overall, this is the #1 best music player on the market and even if it dies in a few years because of the dreaded dead battery issues that have been mentioned so many times online I will be more than happy to spend my money on another. They're that good. Hide Full Review

Whenever I can use a product intuitively right out of the box without referring to the manual, I consider that a superior design. I got the 60g iPod and now I can carry my entire music collection with me everywhere I go with storage space to spare. I think its a bit pricey but when I looked at comparable products from Creative and iRiver, iPod is way better in terms of overall design, build quality and ease of use. In terms of overall storage capacity per dollar, iPod also wins hands down. Also, the battery life is excellent. I think the competetion will eventually catch up, but for now, iPod is the reigning king of the hill. Hide Full Review

I'm probably not the only one who realized this, but the fact that apple gives out free engravings is not because they are nice, it is so they can refuse to refund it. A good thing to know before you get your name on the new pod. I recently got a nano with my name on it, and now I want to sell it to buy the video, only it is much harder to sell an ipod with a strangers name on the back. Hide Full Review