Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the first review (or at least the first we've seen) of the
iPod touch, Apple's new iPhone-aping, widescreen media player /
WiFi device. If you can't wait until the end of September (the touch is shipping by the 28th, if you believe the Apple Store), you can sink your teeth into one lucky critic's view of the new device. According to PC Magazine, the iPod touch is a, "Thing of beauty," which shouldn't surprise anyone, considering the praise for its design-doppelganger, the iPhone. The review notes that all of the media player and internet controls are the same as the aforementioned device (Cover Flow, lists, zooming, etc.), though the touch allows you to "double-click" the button on the front of the device to bring up a music control-panel, no matter what application you're in. It's not all sweet-loving however -- PC Mag isn't too psyched on the Starbucks feature, which apparently can't be turned off, and says that the earbuds are absolutely awful (no real surprise there), though the complaints are minor compared with the praise lavished on the player. Don't take our word for it, though, hit the link and read the whole thing for yourself.
posted Sep 13th 2007 10:33AM
never been first to comment. woot!
You're a good person.
I was really excited when the rumors started coming out about the new widescreen iPod and sat glued to my screen on Sept 5th, switching between Engadget's and ArsTechnica's life blog of the event, credit card in hand. When Jobs whipped out the Touch, I about wet myself as I was so excited. Then he mentioned the flash memory storage.
Heartbreak.
How can you do this to us Steve? 16gigs might get me through one international flight, but it's sure as hell not going to get me through a round trip, not if I want to bring more then a couple hundred songs with me. And for all this Flash love you're showing, why no Flash support in your web browser? That's awesome you have a custom option for YouTube, what about other flash video sites though? I get your concerns about battery life, but I don't understand them when there are litterally hundreds of aftermarket battery packs and other type addons to boost battery life, yet none to boost storage. Couldn't you *at least* have included an expansion slot? It's not much but it's something. Anything.
The sad part about this is I have been an iPod faithful since the way back to second version of the original, (the first version had a physical spin wheel, like the Sansa. The second version was the first to introduce the now-iconic touch wheel) even before you offered native support for Windows PC's, but after waiting two years for a widescreen iPod that plays video I can't wait any longer. I'm most likely going to be picking up one of those new Archos 605's now. It does wifi, has a touch screen (almost a full inch bigger then your's btw, with twice the resolution and 221 ppi compared to your 153 ppi) but most importantly, it comes in three sizes: 30gig, 80gig, and 160gig. In fact, the 160gig model retails for the same price as the touch. So it's bigger and not as slick looking, who cares? Yours doesn't exactly fit in my pocket either, and it's still a third the size of my portable dvd player which it will be replacing. On top of all that, instead of making me convert 90% of the video files I use into your format, all I have to do with the 605 is drag and drop them off my hard drive. Sure I have to pay 20 bucks more for the few codecs it doesn't come bundled with, but at *least* they give me the option, and that's something you never have. I can even download them wirelessly on the road if I decide to. One last thing: for about twice the price you ask for the just the necessary equipment to output video to a TV, I can turn this thing into a fully functional web-ready net-streaming PVR!
This is just my two cents. Your mileage may vary of course. I'm gonna miss the slickness and ease of use of the iPod. That is, till I boot up my 605 and find my *entire* video colletion there in front of me on an 8 hour flight to who knows where. That's all I wanted from you Jobs. You had me hook, line and sinker, and you blew it just to make the thing a couple millimeters thinner. Ouch.
16gigs is waaaay more than "a couple hundred songs", i dunno what crack your smokin. obviously not the good stuff. My itunes is 15gb with 3500 songs. I dunno where you are flyin that 3500 songs wont be enough but seems plenty
For all that you wrote Cash, I call bullshit on 16 gigs not getting you through a flight or two (or twenty)
I just created a 16 Gig smart playlist, nothing under 192kbps... It's 7.4 days or 387.6 hours of continuous music.
6 Gigs got me through a 6 day road trip and a week in San Fran and I only listened to about half of it.
ok ok ok... we got the message already.
. It's not Steve’s fault because the industry is pumping out 16gig flash drives; so that’s what’s in the iPod... Come back in a few months or years and guess what you'll have!!!
. you want the iPod screen to be bigger on the iPod... Come back in a few months or years and guess what you'll have!!!
. you want PVR, net-streaming, output to TV on the iPod... Come back in a few months or years and guess what you'll have!!!
. you wand divx or other codex's on your iPod... come back in a... ahh... well we can discuss that when you come back!
Or you can buy the device with all of those features that you want and you wont be *Heartbroken* anymore. :D
Strange though... the previous iPods didn't have all of that stuff!
first?
No. Just don't bother.
Fail.
No, just a tool.
But thanks for playing.
Reboot!
I know one way to turn off the starbucks feature... that is not to go anywhere near a starbucks cafe.
That feature would be pretty much useless to me since there isnt any starbucks near where I live.
Forgot to mention that only a couple of starbucks in the usa are offering the ipod download service anyways.
Speaking of features, how diffulcult will it to port over the mail, google maps and calendar apps from the iphone with a bit of hackery?
Is avoiding a Starbucks physically possible in a U.S. city?
My question for the Starbucks thing is does that give you full free WiFi when you're in a Starbucks, or just the ability to buy songs. Everything thinks it's the former, but they've never come out and said that as far as I can tell.
Yeah, it's only supposed to be free access to the iTunes WiFi Music Store.
How is it that you have the same "nickname" as me? I thought names could be assigned only once.
At any rate, the review did mention that you wouldn't see the icon unless you were on wireless iTunes via WiFi.
That's going to be hard for me since I work in downtown Seattle, but I don't think the feature will really bother me.
ahhh nooo now i might have to brake down and join the ipod crowd =(
is there any way i can not use itunes or aac on the ipod touch?i hate itunes sooo much lol
@mewantphone
your a dumbass
You can still use mp3 through iTunes, if thats anything? And I think realplayer and some Linux-apps can put music on the iPod.
Media Monkey synchs with iPods, IIRC.
http://www.mediamonkey.com/
Now THIS is a blatant iPhone rip-off
[ducks]
No these are:
http://www.mp4nation.com/products/index.php?PID=mp4
Ironic... The iPhone came before the new iPods yet in the Engadget interview with Phil Schiller, Phil calls the iPhone the best *iPod* ever made? Interesting.
You idiot! The iTouch and the iPhone are made by the sa....ohhh ho ho, I see what you did there. Nice one!
MOAR MEMORY!
What a rip off. Apple should sue these guys for ripping off the Iphone!
Reminds me of the Coke Zero commercials...
iPhone team leader: "We'd like to sue the iPod for ripping off our product."
Lawyer: "Um, you're the same company..."
iPhone team leader: "But they're on a different part of our floor."
Interesting about the double click. Wonder if they'll make double click on the iPhone take you straight to the dail-pad on the phone app. Would make sense to me.
Frank, I hope for a double-click shortcut on the iPhone, but the dial pad isn't the best use for it. I rarely dial from the dial pad, usually referencing my contacts instead.
ive always thought it would be a good idea to be able to define 'fingerstrokes' like key strokes with expose but just to bring up certain things like you said
The only time I've ever used the dial pad on my iPhone was to press "1" to get through someone's stupid voicemail prompts. All my contacts sync'd down through iTunes, so I didn't even have to type those numbers in the first time. Phone numbers are an antiquated notion that should be completely done away with.
I've got mine on pre-order!
My wife goes to Starbucks fairly often but we don't sit there while she drinks her coffee. I have noticed that the type of music they play in Starbucks is not the type of music I buy. The Starbucks integration probably won't change our behavior or get iTunes any additional music sales. I must be in the wrong demographic.
Different Starbucks play different music. matter what area they are in. But there is an iTunes connection, Starbucks just created a music label(Hear Music) and the first person they sign was Paul Mccarthy, who is in turn was the first Beatle in the iTunes music store.
So expect to see hear a lot more Starbucks-iTunes crossovers in the near future as their label grows.
I was always under the impression that all the Starbucks stores played XM 75... is that not true anymore? Was it ever?
I'm disappointed that the only free thing you can do at starbucks is go to the store for free. Starbucks should let all ipods and iphones access the entire web for free. I know that would be more likely to keep me for a few more minutes and get more coffee. I doubt letting ipods and iphones alone have unlimited internet access would hurt their profits they make for laptop users using their internet.
I'm still disappointed that it doesn't have A2DP bluetooth. Being in the UK I may wait for the iphone release here and hope that they add A2DP (as well as 3G).
A2DP sounds awful. Trust me, it's scientifically provable. Apple has really high minimum standards for audio quality, so while I like my wireless headphones too, I can understand their perspective in waiting until chipset manufacturers start implementing SOUNDabout Lossless or something similar.
Enuf! Enough! Enough! ENOUGH!
Enough news on Apple/ipod/iphone/itouch/ieat/idrink/isleep/iApple..
lmao i feel your pain.... and why does everyone rank people low when they bash apple? it was a good attempt but when are they gonna give the consumer what they want? (dont get me wrong some people might want it, and if you do im not bashing you) but the majority of us can find something that will make our eye's and wallet like us more.....
I low rank people for not for bashing Apple/Complaining/whining, but for TAKING THE TIME TO POST IT. Engadget has been PLENTY kind (several times) reminding trolls like you that you dont have to read (LET ALONE POST ABOUT IT), and even went to the trouble of creating an Apple-free RSS feed (http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/20/tired-of-iphone-and-or-apple-news-on-engadget/). Hell, i feel bad about wasteing my time posting this.
You know, for a while, the complaints about the iPhone coverage made me roll my eyes, but this blog and TUAW rarely cover anything else now - which is a shame, because TUAW especially used to be a great source for information about cool apps.
I knoq there's a lot of Apple posts on Engadget, but I wouldn't say they give Apple more posts than non-Apple news. It's just that it's a busy time for Apple and Engadget is sucking up what it can from a slow news day.
I feel your woes.
Here, see this :-
http://www.theinternetnowinhandybookform.com/schmapple/
It has been around a while, but it'll make you feel better.
Sadly, the review confirmed sucky Calendar. C'mon Apple, this is the only reason I haven't ordered Touch yet...
At last some Apple news, very nice.
The double click sounds brilliant.
The wifi iTunes is useless for me. For one, I loathe iTunes as a player and will not install it on my computer. It's a bloated piece of trash with, at the very least, a necessarily massive visual footprint. Ug.
For another, I can't see myself buying mp3s from Apple. Most of what I listen to is non-RIAA protected artists. I buy most of it on vinyl, and often CD, for less than iTunes would charge me. I'll rip my own, thank you.
The tiny flash drive, although necessary, defeats the purpose of video to me (and correct me if I'm wrong, but videos purchased from iTunes run about 750MB per hour, meaning the 8 gig can hold about 10 hours of video, or less than half a season of Heroes.) For the price, for the purpose, I'd never buy it with these capacities.
I think the product is ahead of its time, but in a negative way. I know people will jump for it and love to show it off. I know it is beautiful. But it offers absolutely nothing for me other than looks. For mp3/video playback there are dozens of other options with more battery life and much higher capacity.
And, for wifi internet browsing, which I am eager for, there are those UMPCs. Which are currently far, far too expensive, but will ultimately be products I really want.
cheer up emo kid!
(haha...or, at least take the stick out...)
I realise that engadget is primarily a site about gadgets, but coming across this a few days ago but not being able to try it out for myself I'd like to ask what people think of this:- (particularly if you feel you are a developer and could help out)
[http://www.songbirdnest.com/]
[http://www.songbirdnest.com/features]
[http://www.songbirdnest.com/screencast]
**For anyone with an iphone or who may gave early access to one of the new ipods
how viable an alternative to itunes is this for use with your ipod?**(may require 3rd party plugin on site)
- it may not be compatible right off the bat but has add-on support which is one of the things that really makes winamp great (I believe some of the creators of winamp built it).
from my understanding of Songbird, its seems like it has the potential to be to itunes what firefox is to IE.
what does anyone else think....?
[apologies for going marginally off topic but I thought that this could be something that could interest a lot of people]
I'm curious, what exactly is considered "bloatware" these days? Is it a program with a ton of features and an attractive appearance? Is it a program that has a large file size, or memory useage despite the near Terabyte of storage and several gigs of RAM a modern computer has?
My home computers have no problem whatsoever running iTunes/Windows Media 11 and a ton of other apps at the same time. Chug free. Bloatware is a phrase that should have died with Windows 3.11
If you don't like todays software, just fire up that trusty DOS/Unix box of yours and have a blast! I'll stick with my Vista/OS X machines and continue to enjoy what they offer.
Jon, why waste space and time using iTunes taking up half my damn screen with its wonderful showcase 'features' when I can use Winamp 5, sync my music to my Zen/Ipod/what have you, have the player itself occupy less space than the title bar of a window, and play with plugins pretty much every single music and video file invented ever (including ROM dumps, tracker files, etc. - music doesn't stop with the iTunes store)? THAT'S the kind of feature I'm looking for, not the ability to look at my cover art like a flipbook. Let alone the various other options that load quickly, are much more customizable, and don't try to take over your PC ...
Just because an interface is glitzy and pretty and colorful doesn't mean it's good for everyone. You may be enamored by it. Fine. That doesn't give you the right to go LOL OSX LOOKS U R OLD NOOB! I'll take a minimalistic player/skin any day of the week, and I do. From minimalistic Winamp/Foobar/etc. with the text-based media library to the utility of VLC Video Player and Media Player Classic, I prefer my programs to work and work efficiently, especially in the computing world of today where it is so easy for a developer to get away with not doing so. Why waste processing power and time needlessly? I'd rather save the cycles for games, my CAD software, or letting my CPU drop into a lower power mode.
What about the crappy codec support? I mean, who in their right mine would be satisfied with a PMP that doesn't have divx/xvid support?
Soneone who dosent know what divx/xvid is and he/she is downloading all of their vids from iTunes store!
I'll keep holding my breathe for apple to use another codecs then their own. I too would love native divx/xvid support as it would save me hours upon hours of time converting to mp4 on my 80giger.
"Xzavier @ Sep 13th 2007 11:10AM
Soneone who dosent know what divx/xvid is and he/she is downloading all of their vids from iTunes store!"
A techno-schmuck you mean?! The iPod touch looks great but once more they crippled it like the iPhone - no editing calendar, still no FM (give us the OPTION), $299 for only 8 GB and no manipulation w/o looking (that is just a minus for all touch devices imo, when compare dto clickwheels etc) - I'd rather get the iPod classic tbh.
The only thing stopping me is that I've had an iPod HDD crash on me f and flash memory is more stable. I think I'll check out the new Creative Zen - $100 less for the same storage, plus multi-codec support, FM and flash memory!
I rip DVD's in H.264 anyway (which is much better at single-pass encoding than Xvid/Divx.)
If you have a large collection of Xvids though, then obviously this is an issue. Most of Apple's target market doesn't.
Apple intends you to get your video from one of two sources. Publicly, buy it from the iTunes store. Privately and unspoken, rip it yourself. If you're ripping it yourself, ripping it into H.264 is just as easy as ripping it into DivX.
Really, the only reason you'd be SO DESPERATE for xvid support is if you're illegally downloading stuff.
Your comment only supports my point. "Apple intends..." I don't like being forced to use one format because a company wants me to purchase all of my media from them. The more codecs supported, the better.
Take a look at MPEG-2. I own many VCDs and enjoy playing them on my PMP (Cowon A2) without having to convert them.
Also, don't forget a very important fact: h.264 takes up a lot more processing power than divx/xvid does. Less processing power = longer battery life.
As for illegal videos, that is an entirely different issue.
Shame no Blue tooth, it's a deal breaker for me. I'd buy one and wait for the hack to put Skype on it... guess that's why there is no BT.
However for something this expensive, and pretty to be ruined by icky wires sticking out of your head is the worst of all worlds. Grease stains, food stains on the display and sauce on the wire. Yuck.
I had to spend 3 minutes, ok 40 seconds, cleansing a demo model of the iPhone in an AT&T store. And it still looked smeared. Amazing how Americans will just stick their fingers any old place:)
I thought very little of the review since he used strawman "objections" that really aren't the hold-ups most people have with the Touch. Primary concerns include the lack of memory (I did not see capacity addressed anywhere in the article) and the way Apple is neutering functionality (like taking away the ability to update Calendar events - also breezed right over on page2).
What this article really did was highlight another hangup - the inability to shut off the wifi. I wonder if that can be hacked in like enabling Calendar event setting/editing will (hopefully) be...
Totally agree with you yacob.
Though the calender/date book thing I dont care about (I use an old fashion paper calender and a paper date book and have yet to miss a meeting yet).
The WiFi not being able to be turned off is a killer for me as is the low storage capacity. WiFI on all the time means lower battery life and it means annoying crap on my ipod when I go and by a cup of coffee. I think the starbucks deal is just the tip of the iceberg and I can see this type of deal being implemented in many many stores-- I dont want a walking billboard no matter how small it is.
I loved this line in the review
"We may never see FM radio or video recording capabilities in an iPod, so it's silly to expect or hope for"
So it's silly for consumers to expect basic features that other players have? Or to hope for the best product possible?
Why do all reviewers, Engadget included, view reviewing an Apple product as a mix between copying the press realease and damage limitation?
You can turn the Touch's Wi-Fi on or off.
http://www.apple.com/support/ipodtouch
Opedn the PDF and scroll to the Settings section. Look under Wi-Fi.
when will current iPhone users get a contacts icon for crying out loud!
well not that loud...
I'll keep waiting for iphone 2...
can't wait for mine to turn up :-)
love the old skool all metal back!
Why is it that Apple refuses to acknowledge wireless headphones? Here's this gorgeous iPod Touch that I either have to dangle a wire from or add a dongle to so I can listen wirelessly. Was it THAT hard for Apple to add a Bluetooth chip and a real stack so I can use my Bluetooth headphones? Why does their design sense not include wireless listening?
Bluetooth: Headphones usually sound like crap, will reduce battery life. I'd rather have better quality with wired.
Storage/Battery: Theres 5 hours of battery life for video, OR 22 for music. For those complaining for more storage, you are going to have to charge it again after 5 hours whether you have the 8g or 16g. And while you are charging/syncing, you can swap some videos out. That does not count you using the wifi either.
Storage again: They offered the classic for a reason. It has HDD, which is known to break down alot easier and have worse battery life. But hold you entire library. Buy that if that is what you need. I need something for wifi, a little video, and music.
You are paying for a product with a revolutionary interface, sleek design, and some advance features. It doesnt have everything but it will sell.
3G iPhone before the holidays?
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/09/13/3g-ipohnes-will-arrive-before-christmas-says-analyst
What I actually want to know is if it will be able to jailbreak this thing.
I want to run random applications on it for the heck of it.
I wish it had a Peet's button. (RIP sir)
twenty-nineth?
Very nice, but I have to agree with the others on their misgivings. I'll wait until they mature this a couple of revs. Should be truly incredible by then. For now I'll stick with my chubby old 40GB iPod Color... though my gadgetitis is really starting to itch for something new.
wow, iPhone should totally sue iPod for this. this is such a ripoff!
OMG stop already
So he's complaining that while in a Starbucks, using their WiFi to access the iTunes Music Store, for free, that there is an extra icon, that he does not have to touch.
the best way to turn the starbucks feature is to close down the wifi iTunes app, wow they make it sound like the whole feature its fills of adds or something, its just a little icon that you dont have to tap if you dont feel like,@ who even said itunes sucks! Wake up itunes has to be the best there is outhere if your a windows user or a mac dont matter, am able to steam music from 3 pc and 2 mac in my apartment building at anytime, ats long as the people in my building have good music, its also part of my music without setting up nothing just tapping on it, they also can do the same thing even if they are running itunes on vista or xp
I'm still waiting for the new zune....Oh GOD I'M SO ALONE!!!!
*sobs uncontrollably*
You would think that since the new iPod touch removed so many features of the iPhone (ie. bluetooth, camera, ability to enter contacts on the go) that it would have added a few features not see on the iPhone (ie. TV out, GPS, or FM Radio with recording to mp3).
At the beginning I was very excited about the new iPod Touch but after seeing everything they've removed from it I think I'd rather have the full iPhone and not the stripped down iPod Touch.
It's still the best mp3 player ever but I am not compelled to run right out and get it right away because I know that all the features left out of this initial model will somehow show up in a future model a few months down the road.
I would hope Apple would put whatever is going to be on the next one, software wise, on this one. Like the iTunes Wi-i Music Store is also going to be on the iPhone.
Since I don't see any physical limitations stopping that.
Well you can move one item off the iPhone-only list -- the PCMag reviewer said you can edit Contacts on the device.
So i just read both articles really quickly, can someone reply to my comment and tell me what date this is being released now? I preordered already from apple. I didnt see the release shipping date like the engadget article title says.
yeah I didn't either but then I read the Engadget post again and it looks like he re-worded it to take that statement out =)
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/807827/how_to_hack_a_pen_into_a_pistol/
I think iTunes is pretty amazing. its way better than any other program i've used.
re: the 'small' capacity of the touch, yes its a bit of a bitch, but what do you expect? flash is too expensive to be practical higher than 16gb.
at the end of the day this iPod isnt going to please everyone, but there are plenty of other options! personally, i love it.
Apple RULES!!! :)
Gogo Apple crush the competition!
Since the earbuds are expectedly bad, I wonder if the Touch has the same headphone jack issue that the iPhone does.
No. Though the article didn't mention it I've seen it reported elsewhere that it does not have the same recessed headphone jack. Yeah.
Still cant decide what to do about getting one. :/
sling player for the touch?
All-important question: will the headphone jack work with any headphones or is it annoyingly recessed like the iphone one?
Where have you guys been? Since the Touch's annoucement it has been established that the jack IS NOT recessed like the iPhone.
When do iPhone users get our C-Note bacl? maybe ill use it to buy my wifey an ipod touch
I just think they got this soooo wrong in terms of milking the cash cow that is itunes.
So you put your collection of EMO that you just 'can't' be without, and a couple of pictures on the touch, then you are out about and want to download that new tune you just heard in a store....
Woops, not enough space to save aformentioned tune... Apple lose another (spur of the moment) sale, which they may never get back. Now if it had a 120 - 160 Gb HDD you could be impressing your mates all over town downloading videos and tunes...
I wonder how iPod Touch song sharing will work with Zune. :D
Take headphones off. Put on Zune persons head. You can do this an unlimited number of times, even again 20 years from now.
No physical volume controls on the iPod Touch? I don't get that. So now it's two button presses and a swipe just to change the volume instead of a swipe on the scroll wheel or a continuous press on a volume rocker. That's mildly annoying - I adjust volume all the time.
I really don't like the Touch lineup. They should have been released in 16GB and 32GB models, skipping the 8GB model altogether. If Apple really wants the maintain the ipod market then they need to create a clear distinction between it and the iPhone. The iPhone's focus should be to provide a fully operational and immersed cell phone experience and then on the side taunt the user with flavors or "previews" of all other things Apple such as ipod, safari, etc but never in their complete forms so as to motivate further interest in other Apple products and devices. By having both an ipod touch 8GB model and an iPhone 8GB model Apple is sending a confused message to consumers. I love Apple, and I swear by my Mac Pro hands down as the best/most powerful/most stable computer I have ever used but I have to say that the ipod touch and iPhone are just too similar and overall not very well planned as two cohesive and distinct product lines. Knowingly or not Apple has set these devices against each other and hopefully something will change before a clear winner or loser is decided.
why is every n00b complaining about no 32gb?
do you know how much flash costs? if they made a 32gb it would be like $800.
there is always a large price spike between last years high capacity flash and this years chips.
if you want to complain, complain about the lack of sd card slot, but not about them not makign it $800.
it's not as simple as just throwing in another chip. it could be, but then it would most likely need another board layer just to hold the 2 extra chips.