The following review was written in Nov 2008. Naturally, a number of things have changed for the iPod Touch and the iPhone since then. If you’re still looking for a low-cost iPhone-like device but don’t really care about the "phone" part of it, the iPod Touch is still the best money can buy.
With the iTunes music and App store (with apps for Facebook, Twitter, Google Earth etc.) giving it an extensibility unlike any other, if you have easy access to WiFi, you can do a whole lot with this portable gaming and browsing device, and not just use it as a music player! For more "conventional" details, read below. There are very few things money can buy that give you even more joy than you thought they would! Apple’s iPod Touch does just that.
It’s essentially an iPhone without the "phone". Sure, there are some differences in the materials used for the LCD display, etc. But, at one-fourth the cost, the subtle differences don’t really matter.
Building on the iconic iPod platform, the iPod Touch is a stunning example of how design and functionality can not only go hand-in-hand, but make music too! I recently switched from the excellent (3rd gen) iPod Nano to the even better iPod Touch, and am loving every minute of it...
My effort has always been to share my own experience with any product/service, and stick to the essentials, instead of churning out a 2000-word review. There’s a lot of folks out there who’ve done a fine job of reviewing the details down to the millimetre. So, I’ll just give you this:
*Top 5 Reasons you should own one!
Reason #5 : Thanks to CoverFlow, it offers the most realistic, visual experience while browsing through your music collection - CD covers (album artwork) that you can flip through, as if you’re doing it for real.
Reason #4 : Music+TVShows+Movies+Photos+Videos... there’s almost no form of digital entertainment that your iPod Touch cannot give you access to. And, once you experience the power of the "pinch" (multi touch), it’s hard to go back to old days!
Reason #3 : Immersive Gaming - Thanks to revolutionary technologies like MultiTouch and Accelerometer, gaming on the iPod Touch is incomparable to almost any other device. Not to mention, a huge collection of free and paid games to be downloaded from the iTunes App Store!
Reason #2 : The Safari/Wifi bundle just needs to be experienced! The built-in wifi functionality works flawlessly on open and secure wifi networks, and Safari is simply the best browser ever built for a handheld device. The only thing it cannot do is Flash and Java.
Reason #1 : It’s almost an iPhone!!! Don’t forget, the iPod Touch offers you 99% of the iPhone experience, except for the phone component, at 25% of the cost! So, if you’ve been itching to get your hands on an iPhone and don’t want to change your phone just yet, this is your answer.
The newly launched iPod Touch even offers dedicated volume controls and a speaker, making it 99.5% of an iPhone!
Get one today. You can thank me later...
Why Not?!
Since I’ve spent an entire post answering the question : Why iPod?, I thought it only fair to include some helpful advice on “Why Not?!”
In my humble opinion, the iTunes software is the single biggest reason why you shouldn’t own an iPod! If you’re thinking of buying any new Apple iPod, I strongly recommend that you download a free copy of iTunes and test ride it first. The world is divided between those who love it and those who want to break their display monitors after trying to make iTunes work they way it should!
Sure, you can find many alternatives to the iTunes software. But, in most cases, that would mean giving up on a lot of features on your new iPod that only iTunes can help you access. So research this thoroughly. Google “itunes alternative” for more…
(As of June 2010, the iTunes v. 9.2 is also a significantly improved offering. I’ve also had the opportunity to use the ’Genius’ feature and found it to be a commendable effort at making a playlist of similar-sounding songs to the ones you like. However, the fact still remains that some of the features of iTunes can be quite a pain to tackle for newbies, and you may want to consider test-riding it before taking the plunge..)
Update : 18 Nov 2008
A reader asks: "Can I copy regular MP3s to my iPod or do I necessarily need to buy music from the iTunes Store?
Here’s my response...
Absolutely! Buying from the iTunes Music Store is not a compulsion. You can rip CDs into MP3s or even copy all your existing MP3s to your iPod, with no limits. (Please note that the iTunes software is different from the iTunes Music Store.)