Apple Reviews

The iPod mini is built from the ground up as a portable device for people with fast-paced lives. It's small and lightweight physical dimensions are perfectly suited to be being placed in a pants or shirt pocket without being a burden.

But don't let its light weight fool you into thinking the iPod mini is a pushover. The 4GB hard drive (3.7 GB actual) can hold about 1,000 songs - enough to last almost three full days. The installed software includes four games; calendar; notepad; contact database; clock; backlight with timer; alarm clock; and the abilities to customize the main menu; create playlists; and rate songs. All this is in addition to being able to be used as an external hard drive.

However, the most revolutionary aspect of the iPod mini (aside from it's size and weight) is its control interface. Incorporating the 'Menu', 'Pause/Play', 'Forward' and 'Back' buttons directly to the touch sensitive scroll wheel not only creates simplicity from a design standpoint, but form a user one as well. Accessing these controls is a breeze. Thankfully the touch wheel is designed well enough that accidental pressing of a control is unlikely to occur since you have to press down a bit to activate the button. I'd actually like to see the entire iPod line adopt this interface.

Some people complain that the iPod mini is only slightly cheaper than the 20 GB iPod and offers a lot less storage space. But what you loose in storage space you gain in portability. It is also important to consider that compared to other players of its size and weight, the iPod mini offers much more storage space, many more features, and a better music jukebox in iTunes 4.0.

I want to carry the most music I can in the smallest possible device that offers the best interface and features. For me, that device is unquestionably the iPod mini. If you have similar demands of a portable music device, the iPod mini is sure to become a permanent accessory to your lifestyle.

The iPod mini is built from the ground up as a portable device for people with fast-paced lives. It's small and lightweight physical dimensions are perfectly suited to be being placed in a pants or shirt pocket without being a burden.

But don't let its light weight fool you into thinking the iPod mini is a pushover. The 4GB hard drive (3.7 GB actual) can hold about 1,000 songs - enough to last almost three full days. The installed software includes four games; a calendar; a notepad; a contact database; a clock; backlight with timer; an alarm clock; and the abilities to customize the main menu; create on-the-go playlists; and rate songs. All this is in addition to being able to be used as an external hard drive!

However, the most revolutionary aspect of the iPod mini (aside from it's size and weight) is its control interface. Incorporating the 'Menu', 'Pause/Play', 'Forward' and 'Back' buttons directly to the touch sensitive scroll wheel not only creates simplicity from a design standpoint, but form a user one as well. Accessing these controls is a breeze. Thankfully the touch wheel is designed well enough that accidental pressing of a control is unlikely to occur since you have to press down a bit to activate the button. I'd actually like to see the entire iPod line adopt this interface.

Some people complain that the iPod mini is only slightly cheaper than the 20 GB iPod and offers a lot less storage space. But what you loose in storage space you gain in portability. It is also important to consider that compared to other players of its size and weight, the iPod mini offers much more storage space, many more features, and a better music jukebox in iTunes 4.0.

I want to carry the most music I can in the smallest possible device that offers the best interface and features. For me, that device is unquestionably the iPod mini. If you have similar demands of a portable music device, the iPod mini is sure to become a permanent accessory to your lifestyle.

It's So awsome!!!!! I listen to it all the time and love the sound quality. It is so light and durable compared to the regular ipod. I have loaded 400 songs on it and my biggest problem is which song to pick. Loading cd's and downloading songs are also very easy and dont take very long. Overall it is awsome!

The iPod mini is built from the ground up as a portable device for people with fast-paced lives. It's small and lightweight physical dimensions are perfectly suited to be being placed in a pants or shirt pocket without being a burden.

But don't let its light weight fool you into thinking the iPod mini is a pushover. The 4GB hard drive (3.7 GB actual) can hold about 1,000 songs - enough to last almost three full days. The installed software includes four games; calendar; notepad; contact database; clock; backlight with timer; alarm clock; and the abilities to customize the main menu; create playlists; and rate songs. All this is in addition to being able to be used as an external hard drive.

However, the most revolutionary aspect of the iPod mini (aside from it's size and weight) is its control interface. Incorporating the 'Menu', 'Pause/Play', 'Forward' and 'Back' buttons directly to the touch sensitive scroll wheel not only creates simplicity from a design standpoint, but form a user one as well. Accessing these controls is a breeze. Thankfully the touch wheel is designed well enough that accidental pressing of a control is unlikely to occur since you have to press down a bit to activate the button. I'd actually like to see the entire iPod line adopt this interface.

Some people complain that the iPod mini is only slightly cheaper than the 20 GB iPod and offers a lot less storage space. But what you loose in storage space you gain in portability. It is also important to consider that compared to other players of its size and weight, the iPod mini offers much more storage space, many more features, and a better music jukebox in iTunes 4.0.

I want to carry the most music I can in the smallest possible device that offers the best interface and features. For me, that device is unquestionably the iPod mini. If you have similar demands of a portable music device, the iPod mini is sure to become a permanent accessory to your lifestyle.

The iPod mini is built from the ground up as a portable device for people with fast-paced lives. It's small and lightweight physical dimensions are perfectly suited to be being placed in a pants or shirt pocket without being a burden.

But don't let its light weight fool you into thinking the iPod mini is a pushover. The 4GB hard drive (3.7 GB actual) can hold about 1,000 songs - enough to last almost three full days. The installed software includes four games; a calendar; a notepad; a contact database; a clock; backlight with timer; an alarm clock; and the abilities to customize the main menu; create on-the-go playlists; and rate songs. All this is in addition to being able to be used as an external hard drive!

However, the most revolutionary aspect of the iPod mini (aside from it's size and weight) is its control interface. Incorporating the 'Menu', 'Pause/Play', 'Forward' and 'Back' buttons directly to the touch sensitive scroll wheel not only creates simplicity from a design standpoint, but form a user one as well. Accessing these controls is a breeze. Thankfully the touch wheel is designed well enough that accidental pressing of a control is unlikely to occur since you have to press down a bit to activate the button. I'd actually like to see the entire iPod line adopt this interface.

Some people complain that the iPod mini is only slightly cheaper than the 20 GB iPod and offers a lot less storage space. But what you loose in storage space you gain in portability. It is also important to consider that compared to other players of its size and weight, the iPod mini offers much more storage space, many more features, and a better music jukebox in iTunes 4.0.

I want to carry the most music I can in the smallest possible device that offers the best interface and features. For me, that device is unquestionably the iPod mini. If you have similar demands of a portable music device, the iPod mini is sure to become a permanent accessory to your lifestyle.

It's So awsome!!!!! I listen to it all the time and love the sound quality. It is so light and durable compared to the regular ipod. I have loaded 400 songs on it and my biggest problem is which song to pick. Loading cd's and downloading songs are also very easy and dont take very long. Overall it is awsome!

Bought a Linksys BEFCMU10 (version 2) in January of 2003. Initially had a few problems requiring that I reset the modem. Problem turned out to be an ISP problem. Problem fixed and had a year and a half of excellent service.
Yesterday, my Linksys BEFCMU10 failed. I bought a new (version 3) and am back in business.
At $10 per month to rent a modem from my ISP, I am still money ahead buying my modem. However, the Linksys modem does get hot and the heat is probably exacerbated using the modem with a stakable Linksys router as I do.

After frustrating results trying to set up the cable modem and 20 hours on line with @Home... no, not @Home. Today, ATTBI... (will it be ATTBI-Comcast???)

The new ATTBI help desk officially does not support this modem. However, the reason for my troubles was because the flunkies that were helping me failed to properly register my MAC address.

Be persistent with updating your MAC address with your cable ISP and the Linksys BEFCMU10 will work like a charm.

This is a great little modem. I hooked up through the ethernet port so I didn't have any compatibility problems with the operating system, that only applies through the USB connection. My ISP is ATTBI. Initially, the cable light would not stay nailed up like it did on my leased RCA modem. According to the manual, the cable light is an indication of communication between the modem and the internet. If you are not sending or receiving data, the cable light cycles about every 20 seconds. This was an indication to the ATTBI technician that the modem was receiving an intermittent signal (an incorrect assumption). He advised me that the modem was bad and to contact Linksys. He did however, despite the conclusion he had made, load the MAC address for my Linksys modem into the system luckily for me (I'm sure the irony was lost on that individual or else they were looking to charge me twice to change out the MAC address twice anyway...). Fortunately, I had some "techie" friends who saw through that tech support nonsense and told me to proceed through the set-up process. I never had to contact Linksys and my modem works great. It took less than 5 minutes to set up.

Do I recommend to iPod, despite the price? The answer is a loud Yes. This product is wonderful. Holds more music then you may ever need. The interface is intuitive and easy to use. If you're the type that needs to read instructions before even attempting to figure things out, well guess what, even you can use this product. The sound quality is great; the size is petite and easy to put anywhere, whether it's your pants pocket or your shirt pocket. The carrying case may seem skimpy but it actually does a good job of protecting the iPod. The case is similar to the hard plastic cases for cell phones where you slide the iPod out to make any adjustments but the case stays strapped to your belt. The remote is great to, again intuitive in use and after only a use or two you'll have no problem hitting those buttons without looking.
When it comes to listening to all those songs on the iPod you have many search options such as search by song, album, and singer. Add all the playlists you want to make listening to what you want even easier. If I have any complaint, it is the shiny chrome surface which is perfect for fingerprints and smudges but after a day or so of use, you will get use to it and no longer notice.
Now to get the music to your iPod you have to have a firewire port. Many computers don't come standard with this so you may have to invest about $35 to get a firewire card. Trust me, make the investment. All those people that complain about not having USB support do not know what they are talking about. The reason you want the firewall card is simple - speed. There is more then a 10x difference in the amount of information a firewire card can transmit versus a USB card. For example, lets say you have 10 Gigabytes of songs to transfer. With USB, you are talking about 8-10 hours to transfer all that information. With firewire you are talking about an hour tops. Time saved alone makes the $35 investment worthwhile.
So you have this wonderful piece of Apple hardware but what about the Windows software - MusicMatch? Well, it stinks. That is putting it mildly. To add songs to your play list you first have to add songs to the MusicMatch library, no big deal there, but no instructions on how to do it either. So you have your songs in the library and you want to change them so after you have the iPod hooked up you click "Sync" and after thirty or so minutes you have 1000 plus songs on your iPod.
So where are the problems? Well after you fire your iPod up you notice some strange things like the same artist listed five times or the same album showing three times. Looking carefully you will notice the difference is only a character or two so Pink would be listed Pink, Pin, and Pi. So you think, aw man, my iPod is defective, but if you check out your MusicMatch library you will notice that it lists the singer the same way. So you correct those entries using the "Tag" option. But guess what, when you look at the album titles, artists, song titles and genre you notice that so many of them have errors, usually the last character missing from each field. Suddenly you don't have to fix dozen or so titles but quite literally your entire library of 1000 plus songs times four fields, using the tag option. On top of that, there is no guarantee that MusicMatch will transfer those changes to your iPod. The fix according to MusicMatch is to add a space at the end of every entry, and this works but again to have to do this to 1000+ songs for four different fields is a time-consuming proposition. Supposedly a fix will be out for this problem but considering what a basic thing it is to read a text field and duplicate that information there is simply no excuse for it.
Also, another problem is the syncing. By syncing the iPod you would think that meant I added a new album to my collection and after hooking my iPod to the computer, just that album will be added. Nope, MusicMatch deletes your entire library from the iPod and re-adds it, in the process adding the new album. Also, before even doing this you have to tell the library to add this album. It does not automatically add it even though that album is in the same directory that the library is compiled from.
A final problem is there is a feature that allows volume leveling so that all the songs have the same volume when played. Sounds like a cool feature till you realize that for MusicMatch to make the changes to level the volume it actually alters the file on your computer then transfers it. So you can't revert back to the way it previously was and also as a bonus, all that information about album, song title, genre and artist are now gone and the only way you can change them is to use MusicMatch's tag ability because the Windows property section no longer contains those fields.
So to sum up, iPod wonderful mp3 player, quit simply the best on the market. MusicMatch, a joke of software that cannot do something as simple as read text fields properly. My recommendation? By Windows iPod, marvel at it. Take that iPod disc that comes with it and toss it back in the box. Instead, use a search engine to find program called ephpod. It is a free program that makes transferring music to the iPod a pleasure. It actually reads the tags right and when it syncs low and behold, the program only adds the new stuff without removing the songs on the iPod and adding them again. On top of that, it supports calender, contacts, Audible functions that MusicMatch doesn't. Basically, it is everything that MusicMatch should have been but isn't. Did I mention it is free? Remember, do NOT use the iPod disc that comes with, because MusicMatch will drive you crazy, instead get ephpod and enjoy the fantastic MP3 player that is the iPod.

I recieved this as a gift three days ago. The iPod itself is a well-designed and high quality mp3 player. It comes with a nice pair of headphones, an economical remote with a built-in clip (I liked this especially), a DC power charger, a FireWire cord, a pleather carrying case (which was also a nice plus), instructions, warranty, and then a MusicMatch Jukebox disk. Stay as far as you can from the disk. Keep it in another room, or, preferably, under Yucca Mountain where nobody will come in contact with it. This software is truly poisonous.
The moment I got the iPod out of its stunning packaging, I plugged it in for four hours to charge, then downloaded all of my music to it. I had small problems with this, when the software wouldn't read discs, but otherwise it was fine. Now, when I try to update the music, MusicMatch won't recognize the iPod. I'm going to get EphPod.

As a long time PC/Windows user, I've always been impressed with Apple's equipment, but also always at a distance. After purchasing my new iPod, I'm wondering why I don't have more equipment from them. This product is one of the first I've purchased in some time that delivers exactly on its promises, worked immediately out of the box as expected, and was just too fun and easy to use. In fact, it took longer to install the FireWire card on my PC, then it did to install, configure and start loading songs onto my iPod.

I'm sure you can read the features this iPod offers elsewhere, but let me tell you that all of those features are indeed included and this device performs extremely well and plays songs as well or better than any other device I've owned. In fact, if you're anything like me, once you start using an iPod, you'll wonder what you did before. Playing music from CDs, even my personal mixes, now seems so antiquated.

Assuming you decide to purchase this, here are a few tips: 1) consider the 40GB model. Now that I have this, I wonder if more might be even better (I'm nowhere near my 20GB limit, but more is always better, right?!), 2) consider adding an auto power kit for recharging from the lighter for long trips, and 3) very seriously consider getting the FM transmitter to play iPod tunes over any FM radio (Belkin makes a great model for about $30).

After that, the hardest decision is which songs to load up and play first. Enjoy!

Don't get me wrong, I think that it is a cool device. There's just so many things that they could have done to make it better.

(1)It is a very fragile product. Two of my friends have broken there iPods by dropping them no more than 2 feet. After that the hardisk gets ruined and 300 dollars have gone down the drain.

(2)Warrenty is not all it's cracked up to be. I bet a lot of you that just read #1 said "Well just go to a Apple Strore with your warrenty and they'll fix it right up."....WRONG. The Warrenty is pretty much just for a mistake made in the factory. If you take in your broken iPod with as so much as a tiny tiny dent the employees will call it a customer abuse code and they will definently not repair your iPod.

(3)To put it simple, iTunes could be a lot better in the way you upload your songs to your iPod. A lot of you will argue with that but it is, and admit it, frustrating.

(4)The battery time. I'm not just talking in life span but I'm talking in just plane daily use. The daily use is just about 4 hours long. That is pretty bad if you ask me. Maby I just got a defective battery, but I don't dare go down to the Apple Store to honor my useless warenty.

(5)The iPod DID NOT revolutiuonalize music. There were MP3 players long before the iPod. Not to mention they played cds and were pretty indestructible if you ask me.

Well that's all I have to say about the iPod. Don't just take my word for it, there are a great number of Apple Lovers on this topic to prove me wrong.

-HELPFUL PIECES OF ADVICE-

(1)Battery Time: My only suggestion to you is to not charge your iPod more than 4 hours. If you do the battery life will ware down a lot, and I mean A LOT, quiker. Also, don't charge your iPod untill it has completely lost charge, this will also increase battery life span. If your battery does stop working there is a store online that I came across one day that does actually teach you how to take apart your ipod and install a new battery, the cost is around $150. To find the web site click in "New iPod batteries" in your key word search.

(2)Warrenty: If you feel that you aren't careful enough and that you need a little insurance, you can buy an extended warrenty that will cover SOME damages you might put on to your iPod, the price is about $50. Another good way to keep your iPod safe is to buy a jacket/cover for it.

(3)Easy Scratches and Marks: If your that obsessed to keep it good looking than buy a cover for it, the average cost for a cover is about $20.

(4)No Fire-Wire Port: You can't get around this problem if you have a computer like, for example, a Dell that requires a USB port connecter. There are only two solutions to this problem. {a}Buy a fire-wire card: this solution will cost you about $40 dollars and it takes a little time to install. I wouldn't suggest this solution unless you have other products that require a fire-wire port as well. Or you can {b} buy a 20 dollar chord that connects to your iPod and then splits into a USB chord and a fire-wire chord.

(5)iTunes Frustration: OK I have been determined to find way to get around the frustrating style of iTunes and find a way to be able to load new songs into my iPod without keeping the enormous amount of songs on there as well. I saw on an earlier review that you can use "deauthorizing" to fix this problem, however he/she didn't explain what that means, so untill someone clarifies on that method here's mine. There is another program for iPod handling that is pretty much for Windows users called Ephod. It is free and easy to download from the internet. This system allows you to take songs from the iTunes library and synchronize them with your iPod. So it basically loads one song at a time and doesn't require you to have every song on your hardrive as you do on your iPod. WARNING: Make sure that you make the iTunes-iPod options to manuel or when you plug in your iPod your memory will be erased.

Well that's about all I have to say. I hope it was helpful.

Apple has really done it this time, with their iPods that are getting more and more popular every day, especially with the iPod minis, available in 5 different colors. This 15 GB iPod is so user-friendly, any non-computer genius can use it. The fact that iTunes automatically updates your iPod when you plug it in is even cooler. The only reason I give the iPod four stars, is because the iPod itself, especially the metal back, scratches very easily. This can be easily solved with the use of a case that can be purchased at any Best Buy or other electronics store in your area.

I have purchased a few mp3 players and jukeboxes before, but none of them come close to the user friendliness and quality that the iPod brings. I purchased a RCA Lyra Jukebox and a Rio 20GB Jukebox, and returned both within 2 weeks. Why? The two were jsut not quality products. The fact that this iPod is such a good quality buy is making me consider purchasing a Mac computer!

Another note: if your computer does not have a firewire port, then you need to purchase an iPod USB Dock Connector, which can be purchased at Target, Circuit City, or any other electronics store.

(This is a review I wrote for the 40GB iPod. Most of it applies to this model as well.)

What I like best about Amazon reviews is that, unlike Consumer Reports or other technical reviewers, they come from people who own the product and use it every day. Hence a disclaimer - I got my iPod a week ago.

That being said - it is awesome. My iPod is connected to my PowerBook, where I have almost 5,000 songs stored in iTunes. All I have to do is put the iPod in the cradle and it automatically syncs. The first time took about 30 minutes or so - after that it hasn't taken more than a minute or so. It's much easier than other MP3 players. (For Christmas last year, I bought my dad a Rio MP3 player. Teaching him how to load songs onto it was a huge pain.)

The sound quality is as good as it gets for an MP3. I bring my iPod everywhere and am listening to songs I forgot I have. It's also forced me to go through my music library and make sure everything is labeled properly (if it's not, it's going to be hard to find on an iPod, as it doesn't have a search function).

The games it comes with are mindless timewasters, which is what they were intended to be. The music quiz is pretty cool though. The address book and calendar functions are useful, although a bit of a pain to update if you don't use Mac's Address Book and iCal, as you can't use iSync.

The only complaints I have are minor:

-When attached to the remote control, the earphone cord is too long. While it can be tucked in a pocket if you are wearing normal clothes, it's a pain when you go to the gym or for a run.
-There's a slight pause between songs, which is annoying when listening to a complete concert.
-Like many newer cars, mine doesn't have a tape deck. Hence, the only way to play my iPod through the car stereo is through an FM transmitter - most of which have lousy reputations.
-The functionality of the calendar and address book could be improved, although I'm sure that will come in time and iPods will be fully functioning PDAs as well.

4 stars for computing, 3 stars for gaming. Took about a week for my family to get used to it.(we were used to a three button two scroll wheel logitech) Its great for regular computing once your used to its size, the location of the thumb button and the weight. For gaming its fine for most strategy games like Starcraft and Age of Empires but not very good for 1st person shooters like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3. (It's just not responsive enough for those games). Batteries wont drain that often as long as you have the mouse on a light colored surface. I had mine on a black mouse pad and the batteries drained in a week. Then I read the instructions.LIGHT COLORED SURFACES WILL MAKE THE BATTERIES LAST A LOT LONGER. (about a month for me under moderate to heavy usage)
One oddity is in the scroll wheel. It worked great under Win98 but it doesnt work smoothly with my WinXP home ed. and certain programs. (I am using the latest mouse drivers.) It's like it doesnt recognize every click of the scroll wheel. So far it does this in IE6 and Word2002 but scrolls fine in Outlook2002. I'm hoping its a driver problem.

I've had the logitech cordless mouseman optical for about six months now and find the moust to be almost perfect. The mold of the mouse fits your hand almost perfectly, and for day to day use on my Powerbook running OS X, it is wonderful. There are though a couple of problems with the mouse. First off, the batteries appear to die quite quickly, they last anywhere between a month and a month and a half. While the mouse uses two AA batteries and its not too much of a hassle to change the batteries, this does add up in cost over time and for the extra $10, it might make sense to pick up the MX700 with a rechargable base station. The only other problem I have with it is a minor quibble; the OS X software doesn't allow you to configure each program to use different buttons. If it did - it would be perfect.

In the end, this is a good buy. The size of the mouse is good, the mold is perfect, and the movement/tracking works like a charm.

What can I say, Cordless mice are cool, because they mean one less cable crossing your desk and tangling your stuff. Optical mice are cool, because they're maintenance-free -- no more having to remove a ball, blow away dust, and scrape crud off mechanical rollers. Now Logitech has beaten rodent rival Microsoft in the race to combine the two -- and if it didn't put an annoying eBay icon on your desktop during setup, the Cordless MouseMan Optical would be a perfectly nifty pointing device.

Like previous cordless mice, the new MouseMan comes in two parts: the mouse itself, a bit chunkier (5.3 ounces) than most due to two onboard AA batteries, and a half-mouse-sized radio receiver that plugs into your computer's USB or, via a supplied adapter, PS/2 port. (It's compatible with Windows 98, Me, 2000, and Mac OS 8.6 or later systems.)

The toughest part of installing the Optical was ripping open its impregnable cardboard package. The receiver has a four-foot cord, which we didn't bother uncoiling (though Logitech suggests you put the device at least 8 inches from your computer, monitor, or other electromagnetic emitter). The first time you start up the mouse, you need to push a "connect" button on the receiver and -- using a paper clip or letter opener -- one on the bottom of the mouse. After that, you're free to lean back and point and click; we strolled 10 to 15 feet from the PC without losing control, although once the receiver did lose the signal we had to walk all the way back to our desk to reestablish connection.

The reason optical mice haven't hitherto been cordless, or vice versa, is power consumption: An optical sensor similar to a scanner or digital camera takes a picture of the surface beneath the mouse 1,500 times per second, comparing pictures to detect mouse movement. Logitech says it teamed with Agilent Technologies to create a new optical chip that instantly, automatically shifts in and out of various power-saving modes (flickering between 1,500, 100, 10, and 2 flashes per second) as you move the mouse, click a button, or leave it idle. This yields battery life (checkable on a handy gauge in Windows' system tray) that the company estimates at three months from two disposable AA alkalines.

After some of the "Look, Ma, I'm ergonomic" swoops, tailfins, and light-up logos of recent mice, it's refreshing to report that the Cordless MouseMan Optical is mouse-shaped -- a conventional, comfortable oval with a slightly convex left side and rubber grip that cushions your thumb (your right thumb, that is; lefties are out of luck).

I highly recomend this item to everyone (that is right handed unfortunately)...

I just recently got an ipod with my 2003 Beetle. I must agree with one of my fellow reviewers that it is a bit of a nightmare for windows users. I have to take my ipod to work with me just to put music on the thing. As far as playing music the ipod does an excellent job, everything that the ipod promises it performs. Not to mention how CUTE it is. An ipod is a great investment if you are a music lover.

Just got it about a week ago. Took me a few minutes to get it set up on WinXP (but already had a firewire card). Now it works great! My main gripe are the blank spaces between continuously mixed or live CD's. I get around it by ripping the CD as one huge mp3. You lose the ability to skip songs, but you can use the wheel and navigate through by time... That works ok... Hope Apple fixes this. The headphones sound great, but I don't think they're well suited for sweaty environments (gym, etc.). Bought some different ones. Not a big fan of Music Match, but it gets the job done. Didn't like Ephpod, and may try XPlay. It's my first Apple product, and I like it a lot. May buy more, who knows? But minor gripes aside, I love it. I already have tons of music on it (with 11.5GB remaining!). Wow... Glad I bought it!

Spending [the money] on an iPod was perhaps one of the smartest investments I have ever made. Yes, I've succumbed to buying into the Jobsian music revolution. For those that aren't like me, a veteran member of the Apple cult, the iPod is essentially a digital music player, with serious space for the serious music aficionado.
Getting the device to be recognized by my iBook was a breeze. To do so, I merely had to connect the dock with my laptop, and drop the iPod into its dock. iTunes, Apple's digital jukebox software, immediately took over, and proceeded to transfer my entire library to the iPod - a seamless process.
With 15 gigabytes of hard drive space, the tiny mp3 player managed to hold my 100-album CD collection. I filled the remaining space with my many Dave Matthews Band bootlegs, which calculated at a whopping 700 megabytes apiece.
Like many other Apple products, the iPod is very intuitive, and very user friendly. The face of the device includes a touch sensitive scroll wheel, and four buttons used to maneuver through menus, pause and play music, and switch from one track to the next. In addition, the interface of the iPod is neatly setup in a folder format, sorted by album, artist, genre, and song title. Like navigating through a hard drive on a computer, finding music on the iPod is a simple process.
Many music enthusiasts proclaim that the death of the compact disc is near, and that digital music is the future. If this is the case, I have seen the future, and Steve Jobs has taken me there.

I purchased this printer as a 'step up' from my HP895 CXi... I wish I still had my previous printer! The 5550 is marketed as the top of the line... it uses MUCH more ink, the ink cartridges are much smaller and cost more than the 895's cartridges, and HP now has added a third cartridge, just for photo quality prints. There are only two cartridge holders in the printer, so to use the photo cartridge, you must change out the black cartridge with the photo cartridge, triggering a 'test' page to print. I've contacted HP and there is NO 'fix', NO WAY TO PREVENT THE PRINTING OF THE TEST PAGE - even if you try to cancel (by hitting the cancel print button on the printer), it will still force the test page. I've wasted a lot of ... photo paper and lots of ... ink. It is horrible. Then, if that's not bad enough, the quality is bad. The bottoms of some my prints become purple (especially on HP's 'best' photo paper). HP has no explanation for this. I would not buy this machine again, and would probably think twice about another HP printer (even though this was my fouth HP).

Originally I was set to buy a Canon S750. I read very good reviews on the Canon S750 but have always owned a HP inkjet (694C for 7 years). When the 5550 hit the market at 149.00 (20.00 less then the Canon) I actually purchased both the hp 5550 and the canon S750 to make my own side by side comparisons. I could not resist comparing the two. The ease of set up on both was comparable, extremely easy. Both offer a USB and a parallel connection. The HP offers a add-on duplexer for front and back printing (at an additional cost). Print speeds I would have to give the edge to the Canon. The Canon is also remarkably economical due to the separate ink cartridges which really impressed me. Now to the real test. Text is remarkably sharp and dark on the HP, almost laser like, while the Canon was okay, text was not as dark and appeared to be a little soft. On graphics the canon does not do a good job, especially on plain paper when compared the HP 5550 which is outstanding. On photos there is no comparison. The HP (which offers 4800 x 1200 color dpi and 1200x1200 dpi black text compared to 2400 x 1200 color and 600x600 black text on the S750) is by far the winner here. The HP photos came out considerably brighter and truer to color than the S750. Colors were smoother and pictures were sharper. The S750 does an okay job if you do not regularly print photos (especially on their 4x6 completely borderless paper, which I also liked) but pictures came out dull and cloudy compared the HP 5550 (which also does borderless prints on their 4x6 paper with a bottom tear off tab). The Canon S750 has a quiet mode which is very nice. The HP is a bit noisy in comparison. Both have an auto on and off features that initializes when you call up a print job. The Canon can be set to auto off after as little as 10 mins. of no use where the HP will shut off after 30 mins.
After all is said and done, I returned the Canon S750 and am happily keeping the HP 5550. The quality out ways by far any ink savings and all other features are very close.
I also found out through the HP Rep at a local retail store, that the new HP 7150 photo is no different in photo quality than the 5550 and the only difference is the 7150 offers a dedicated feed on the paper tray for 4x6 photo paper and on the 5550 you have to remove the out tray to slide the 4x6 paper all the way to the back of the feeder tray (no big deal though) The 7150 also offers a USB connection on the front of the printer to connect your digital camera to and print your pictures directly from your camera however it is a proprietary port (only excepts HP cameras). Print speeds are a little slower than the 5550 and the price is 30.00 higher. 7150 does not offer a parallel connection, only USB.
I would recommend the HP 5550 to anyone who wants a reasonalby priced fast, excellent text and photo quality printer that is very easy to use. The out the door cost is very reasonable and is very sleek looking. HP has done an good job with this one.

After having used an HP laser printer at home for so many years, I was skeptical about buying an ink jet. They're slow, they gobble up ink, and if you get the printouts wet, the ink will run. Well, when I heard about the 5550 I knew it was time to "get color". And I was totally blown away by the performance of this affordable little printer.

Text and color graphics are great, of course. Color photos come out perfect, limited only by the quality of the source image. I even borrowed a good digital camera from work, and was amazed by the quality of photos produced by the 5550, far better than what we ever got from our regular 35mm camera. It's kind of a hassle to switch the ink cartridge and paper when printing photos, but if you only do this once in a great while, it's not a big deal. Takes just a few seconds.

So far I've printed a ton of pages, many with lots of color, and still haven't replaced any ink cartridges, so they seem to last quite a while. Plus, it's faster than my old laser printer. So I highly recommend this as a great HOME printer, especially if you'd like to print photos once in a while. For an office environment, I'd recommend sticking with laser (I've worked as a lan administrator, and have purchased a lot of printers over the years).

The only downside is that the ink on the printouts can run if you get them wet. But that's not likely to happen often, and the high quality color printouts are worth it. I believe that this is the best overall home printer available.

I've had my iPod for 2 weeks now, and I must say that I'm pleased with it. I used iTunes to rip my entire CD collection of 400 CDs with ease and now I have them on-demand.

The 40gb iPod comes with the iPod itself, a Firewire docking cradle, carrying case, remote, headphones and charger. If you're running a Windows PC, it's worth spending $20 to get an internal Firewire card for your PC.

Ergonomics:
The iPod has a nice feel to it - it's easy to use (10 minutes to truly play with and I was all set without reading the manual). It's very light and fits inside my breast pocket of a jacket or shirt.

Cables and remote:
I sort of gave up on the remote. If you're like me and like to skip around randomly without the benefit of a playlist, the remote is probably not for you. It's very cool looking and works well, but it's dependant on your music listening habits. This iPod only includes one Firewire to docking cradle cable, so if you wanted to charge your iPod on the road, you'd have to unplug the dock. This irritated me and I bought the USB 2.0 and Firewire to dock cradle cable (~$20) so I could keep that in my travel bag.

The headphones:
They're sufficient enough headphones. Nothing great, but they work well.

Battery:
The battery is the only downfall of the iPod. I'm consistently getting about 6 hours per full charge which requried me to purchase the Belkin external battery module for those Transpacific plane rides.

Extras:
There's a few games on the iPod (Solitaire is always a favorite) and the ability to hold contacts and notes (which is good - just in case my Palm Pilot's batteries die). It's a music device first, not a notebook.

iTunes:
It's not bad for cataloging your music. It's able to rip your CDs at any number of rates to MP3 or AAC. The only problem I had was Gracenote putting inconsistent information within the ID3 tags of your MP3s, so I had to go back and edit that information ("Beatles" vs "The Beatles", for instance). It was easy to create the playlists and those synced over with zero problem.

Overall I give it a 4 out of 5. The battery thing is the only real drawback.

Apple's always at the top of their game - whatever game that is - and this top of the line iPod is no exception. Let's pause a moment for the analysis:

40 GB. That's roughly 40,000 megabytes. Using today's AAC or mp3 music encoding technology, a 72 minute album rarely consumes more than 80 megabytes - even at near-CD quality. What does that mean to you? Yeah, you did the math right - 500 albums. You could sit there and play music 24/7 for nearly a month without repeating. Or head down to your local club and be DJ for the night - just slip the iPod out of your pocket and plug into the sound system!

OK, so it'll hold all your music. But what the numbers don't tell you is that it holds your music in STYLE. About the size of a stack of 8 credit cards, and only a trifle heavier, this'll fit on your belt, in your sleeve, in your backpack's cellphone pocket, in your purse, or wherever else you want to put it with no hassle. The controls lock so jostling around doesn't accidently push buttons. And what cool buttons they are - the 'scrollwheel pad' and no-click touchbuttons make for an easy, fun and durable interface.

Also, the thing just looks darn cool - with its white front, silver back, and little backlit screen, it's got instant 'bling bling' credibility, day or night.

It comes with everything you need - belt clip, earbuds, dock to recharge the battery and transfer music over from your Firewire- or USB 2.0-equipped computer. But I'd recommend two additions: first, the optional FireWire cable makes this into a portable 40G hard drive, highly useful in today's information age. (I carry a copy of the human genome around on mine.) Second, ditch the included headphones and grab a pair of the Sony neodymium-magnet earbuds, model #MDR-EX70LP. They transform your iPod from merely great to INSANELY great.

Cool tunes to ya, my friend!

Apple, like any company, has issues. Their products break and they fix them...most of the time. Bottom line is that my iPod had gone through hell about 5 times, and they've replaced it quickly every time.
Now, this battery thing seems to be the biggest issue people are having. However, there is an easy $40 dollar solution if you don't want to buy the extended warranty: www.ipodbattery.com They sell replacement batteries and teach you how to install them. Easy as pie.
I doubt you'll get as good performance or ease of repair with any of the other MP3 players out there. I've tried a friend's DellPod and it's clunky, and each song plays at a different frequency. Soundcheck cuts away that problem alltogether. YOu can access the entire thing single-handedly, and it takes seconds to update your collection. 3rd party software also lets you transfer songs from the iPod, keep a calendar with events and even add new games on! Check out www.macupdate.com for all of these programs and more. The world of iTunes and the iPod is pretty fantastic and makes music really fun. I have about 7 GB of movies and 18 GB of music on my iPod, not to mention that you can even read Word documents RIGHT ON THE iPOD ITSELF! Another program allows an unlimited word limit, so you could read a 180 pg. document right on your iPod. Insanely easy to read scripts or notes or go over a draft when you're not at your computer. There are so many features that a $300-$500 investment is well worth...especially considering I've had my Pod for almost 2 years now.

I received a new iPod 30GB for Father's day (Thanks Sweetie!). I've used about a dozen or so prior mp3 devices, and I have noted some issues that haven't been represented in any other review, which I wanted to point out to folks considering buying an iPod.

First off, it's a great device overall. 30 GB is a lot of space and fits my 500+ CD music collection fine. I think the battery life of 8-10 hours is great (my previous device, the Nomad Jukebox, had 40GB, but got 2 hours battery life if I was lucky!) and I like it's looks and size a lot. There are some mildly annoying UI issues but nothing I can't live with. The case, and most importantly the screen, scratch really easily, so you have to be careful how you handle it (it's small enough to put in your pocket--just don't keep anything else in that pocket!).

I'm a Windows user, and I'll add my report that the MusicMatch software that ships with the iPod is disgraceful. I loaded it on three different computers, (moving the firewire card around each time) and it never would transfer music to the device. Finally I downloaded an *older* version of MMJB and got music to transfer. Its own user interface is awful and I really hate that it makes you IMPORT all of your music into ITS library. It's clearly designed for the novice user, with no expert-mode features that accommodate folks like me.

But the biggest criticism I have of the iPod is something that Apple just plain got wrong. There is no support for building [persistent] playlists on the device. This really bothers me. It's apparent that iPod's designers had a built-in assumption that people wouldn't mind being tethered to their computers for playlist management and other things, but not everyone works this way. I tend to not hook my device up to a computer unless I have new music to download, which can be weeks. I really want the device to be usable indefinitely without a computer.

But there's one important thing you can't do very well on the iPod without a computer: Create playlists. Yes, you can add songs and albums to the "on the go" playlist, but there are some serious flaws with that feature's implementation:
a) there is only one on-the-go playlist
b) this playlist is temporary. It is blown away the instant you dock your device (why, WHY? This is such a brain-dead design choice it boggles the mind.)
c) when adding entire albums to this playlist, the album order is not respected. They seem to go in either alpha or random order, I haven't figured it out yet.

This makes it tougher to use the device the way I want. I'd like to be able to string together either a list of individual songs or, more often, entire albums and listen to them. But the albums go into the playlist with the song order wrecked, which is annoying. And having to abandon a list I've already created to be able to create a new one is truly annoying. And it's heartbreaking that, after I've put together a really good mix on the device, it will be summarily discarded the instant I dock. I truly can't understand the rationale behind this one.

So on the whole, it's a good device, the best out there for its combination of size, capacity, and battery life. There are some annoying problems that might detract from your enjoyment a bit if you, like me, find album order important and like to create custom playlists anywhere you are. But even with those flaws I'm glad to own mine.

Many portable MP3 players have hit the market in recent years but few have been so well executed as the Apple iPod. With sleek looks and a huge storage capacity for music files (MP3, AAC), Audible audio books, and other files, this player still beats all the other ones out there.

What I really liked:
- huge storage capacity
- nice looks, feels great in my hand or pocket
- absolutely LOVE the scroll pad so I can go through thousands of songs in an instant
- above average battery life (approx. 8 hrs)
- Firewire (a/k/a IEEE 1394, iLink) connectivity is FAST (noticably faster than USB 2.0 when transferring large amounts of data)
- can be used as a removable disk for data backup purposes

What I didn't like as much:
- pricey
- no color display, although this would probably come at the expense of battery life
- case and screen scratch easily (make sure to use a case!)
- no USB cord included for those without a Firewire port

If you received the MusicMatch software with your iPod, make sure to check out Apple iTunes (both for Windows and Mac), as it integrates much better with the iPod (both made by the same company, makes sense right?). iTunes also includes the iTunes Music Store where you can download songs for less than a buck each.

In short, iPod and iTunes is a combination that is truly hard to beat!

Have had my 30 GB iPod since November 2003, and am still loving it. Very few complaints - the sound quality is excellent, the user interface is easy to use, and the syncing with iTunes works flawlessly.

Probably the best feature of the iPod is the easy to use/navigate user interface - it's a snap to find the song you want quickly or build a playlist on the fly. It's also nice how the statistics from your iPod use such as number of times each song is played, date last played, and ratings (0 to 5 stars) carry over to iTunes and vice versa. The smart playlists from iTunes also work, so, for example, I have a playlist on my iPod of all songs rated between 3 and 5 stars which haven't been played in the last month. Pretty nifty.

Highly recommended - a little pricey, but you won't regret it - I get way more use out of my iPod than I did from my first MP3 player - a flash memory based one with a mediocre interface and small storage capacity.

PS: The iTunes Music Store is cool!