With
the recent addition of the iPod shuffle to Apple's current lineup
of digital music players, choosing which iPod is best for you can
be a daunting task. For some people it's hard enough to decide what
color iPod mini to get!
Today we'll talk about which iPod is best for you.
The Regular iPod: Perfect for Music or Backup Junkies
There's no doubt about it, the regular iPod is huge. It comes in
two sizes: 20 gig and 40 gig. It seems to be best for people who
have large iTunes libraries and listen to more than 4 GB of
music. People who plan to expand their music collection also seem
to favor the regular iPod.
When used with the FireWire interface, the iPod offers another
useful capability. Since it's essentially a hard drive, it can be
used as a FireWire disk to boot your Mac. Twenty or more gigabytes
is more than enough space to install OS X and some diagnostic
tools - along with your normal music - to make the iPod a useful
dead Mac resuscitation tool.
As far as value is concerned between the two regular iPods, the
US$399 40 gig is the best value. For only US$100 more than the 20
gig model, you get double the storage and a dock that would run you
US$39 to buy separately.
The bottom line: Buy the regular iPod if you have more than
4 GB of music you'll listen to regularly or want an easy
bootable backup for your system.
iPod mini: For the Music Lover Who Knows What He Wants
Size and style seem to be the major points of this iPod. Here at
Temple University's main campus, there are easily more iPod minis
than regular iPods. This college demographic is very focused on
aesthetics, something that the mini boasts. Coming in five cool
colors and smaller than it's big brother, the iPod mini is a hit
with this buying sector.
As I've noticed, many people don't listen to all of the music in
their iTunes libraries. Even if they have enough to fill an iPod 20
or 40, they simply don't regularly listen to that much music. (No
one can honestly say they listen to every track on every CD they
own, right?) Even having this much music can become cumbersome on
the iPod. As easy as it is, scrolling through several thousand
songs on an iPod - even with multiple playlists - is much harder
than on iTunes.
The bottom line: If you're style conscious or have less than
4 GB of music you listen to regularly, the mini is for
you.
iPod photo
The iPod photo is the iPod that had been predicted for years. It
has a color screen! It comes in both 40 and 60 gigabyte sizes.
(Remember, regular iPods max out at 40 gigs.) Along with the color
screen and large drive, it has presentation ability. You can hook
it up to your computer and upload iPhoto pics.
Why is this useful? You can use it as a presentation tool on the
go. Store a few slides on it and use the video-out to connect it to
a TV or projector, and you have an instant setup. Carrying around
an iPod is a lot easier than lugging an iBook or other laptop to
give a presentation. Plus, you can tout pictures of your loved ones
as much as you show off the nifty color screen.
The bottom line: If you absolutely need 60 gigs of storage, a
color screen, or presentation capabilities, this is the iPod for
you.
iPod shuffle
The shuffle, Apple's newest member of the iPod family, is
something different. I don't necessarily like this new product, but
to keep this article impartial, we'll wait to talk about why I
don't like it until next week.
The iPod shuffle does have its niche in Apple's marketing
strategy. It's so popular that the estimated ship date at time of
writing this article is two to three weeks from The
Apple Store.
They're clearly selling like hot cakes. But whom are they
selling to?
The normal iTunes user probably has a music library larger than
one gigabyte, so storing your whole library on the shuffle is
probably impossible. Apple recognizes this and includes the
"autofill" feature on the latest version of iTunes. Autofill lets
you fill the iPod to capacity using your iTunes library with songs
that match your predetermined criteria.
Given this characteristic of the iPod shuffle, it's clearly for
an audience that wants to listen to a specific collection of music
at one time. They also have to be okay with changing the collection
only as often as they charge the battery.
The bottom line: The iPod shuffle is certainly a niche product.
Autofill is a nice feature that makes it more useable (does anyone
know if you can use autofill on a mini or regular iPod?).
If you want an iPod on the cheap and don't mind it sans screen
or real music control, this is for you.
The Value Equation
The overall value equation for the iPods:
- $15/gig for the iPod 20
- $10/gig for the iPod 40
- $12.50/gig for the iPod photo 40
- $10/gig for the iPod photo 60
- $62.50/gig for the iPod mini
- $200/gig for the iPod shuffle 512
- $150/gig for the iPod shuffle 1 gig
Broken down this way, the iPod 40 gig and iPod photo 60 are the
best values based on storage capacity alone.
People that follow this analysis alone forget that style, size,
and quality are important factors. This kind of math makes me think
of Napster's awful ad campaign, the
$10,000 iPod.
The math does offer one useful piece of information - many
people were in shock at the price of the iPod photo 60 gig. We can
see that you pay the same price per gigabyte ($10) for the highest
capacity regular iPod and iPod photo. For the same price per
gigabyte, you get all of the iPod photo's enhanced capabilities and
a bigger hard drive. 
