So for the first time in a long time i bought something from Apple on launch day. After roughly 5 years of service (plus 1 year of service before i bought it second hand) my 1G (as in first generation) 5 Gig iPod will be retired from exclusive service. I bought this in summer 2002 from a work colleague for $175, remember this thing? It was $399 in 2002 dollars when it came out to lukewarm reception and the rest is history.
I’ve watched 4.5 generations of iPods released without buying them, i’ve seen the no click button 3G ones, the iPod photo, the iPod video, all the small variations; mini, nano, shuffle without buying a new one. I replaced the battery in my 1G model with one many times better then the original battery. But i’ve been waiting actively for the last 18 months to see what Apple would do with a wide screen iPod. I’ve had a $50 apple store credit for the last year from the iPod class action law suit a few years go, and it was expiring in the next 3 weeks so i was under pressure to buy something soon. And when i saw the iPod touch i decided an iPod classic was the perfect replacement for me.
Why the classic and not the touch? Well i wanted something to replace my iPod–which i use for music. I didn’t want something to replace my portable video player–oh yeah i don’t do that, or something to replace my portable web browsing device–oh yeah i don’t do that either. I also think it’s creating a reason to buy it instead of buying it for a reason. Bear with me here, what i mean is that i don’t find myself needing an impromptu web browser while in range of an open WiFi access point. I find it’s more the case that i’m out and about and need access to google or maps or email but not near an access point, so an iPhone would work best in that case.
I will get an iPod touch when they upgrade it in the next 2 years with more memory and expanded capabilities. While i like the portable web browser, i’m waiting to see if they add other applications. Apple has already stated they don’t want to add email or map applications (yet), but that’s a big reason for me to use it.
I have to give props to Apple and even more so UPS, i ordered it on Wed 6PM east coast time and UPS tried to deliver it to me at 9AM friday–39 hours. Not that impressive? Well it was drop-shipped from Shanghai and i didn’t even have to pay extra for shipping! Of course I was out walking the dog, but he came back in the afternoon, so at least i have it for the weekend. Thanks for coming back my UPS delivery guy.
So what’s it like? It’s what you expect from a product that’s been developed and refined for the last 6 years. Just look at the pictures, it’s about half the mass of the original one. It took about an hour to sync my library of about 22 gigs. I scratched the shiny back within 30 seconds of handling it too, so that hasn’t changed! The navigation (especially CoverFlow) is a little slow, not as responsive as the 1G interface, of course it’s a lot fancier. I watched a few minutes of video and i started getting a headache, i think it’s something with the refresh rate and flicker causing motion sickness. I’m not sure i’ll use that feature too much, but i think i’ll convert some more shows to try it out. I have 50GB still free!
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