I already own a 1Gb Apple iPod shuffle which is great, but I wanted something extra. The shuffle is perfect for the gym, but I wanted an MP3 player that could store most, if not all, of my CD collection. I was also interested in being able to store all my photos on the iPod too.
30Gb was ample for my needs. At the time at purchase I was debating whether to buy the 30Gb or 80Gb version. I’m glad I went for the 30Gb version. It is slimmer and lighter than the 80Gb, although if you’ve got a huge CD collection, like storing lots of videos, or use the iPod as an extra hard drive, I can see the appeal of 80Gb.
The Apple web site has the following technical specs for size and weight for both versions:
Size and weight (30GB model)
- Height: 10.35 cm (4.1 inches)
- Width: 6.18 cm (2.4 inches)
- Depth: 1.1 cm (0.43 inches)
- Weight: 136 grams (4.8 ounces)
Size and weight (80GB model)
- Height: 10.35 cm (4.1 inches)
- Width: 6.18 cm (2.4 inches)
- Depth: 1.4 cm (0.55 inches)
- Weight: 157 g (5.5 oz)
The iPod comes bundled with a set of earphones and a USB cable to enable you to connect the iPod to your PC. I found plugging the iPod into the USB cable a bit fiddly, but once you’ve figured it out it is OK. You just need to make sure you hold and press the buttons on the USB connector when attaching to the iPod. You can just make out this button on the USB connector shown on the left of this photo.
Once the iPod was connected to the USB cable I had no installation issues with my PC. Windows XP automatically started iTunes, and soon after iTunes had updated the iPod to the latest software version. The iPod then began to upload all my songs and photos onto the iPod.
So far I’ve only used about half of the 30Gb available. 12Gb is taken up with most of my CD collection, about 2800 tracks. This works out at about 6 months total music playtime, if I wanted to listen to every single song in one go! What I really like is being able to shuffle the songs in any order. With 6 months worth of music I’m guaranteed a pretty good mixture of music.
I would say the sound quality is on a par with the 1Gb Apple iPod shuffle I also own, although the earphones I find suffer the same problem as the shuffle. You can’t really appreciate the full bass until you firmly press and hold the earphones against your ears. Maybe that could be overcome by purchasing a better set of earphones. This is only a minor complaint though, overall I think the earphones are adequate for most people.
I don’t use the earphones that much, I normally connect the iPod to my hi-fi using the Apple AV connection kit, and then let the iPod shuffle the songs in random order. The sound quality through the hi-fi is very good. I’m not an audio expert but I’m very happy with the sound output.
I’m also looking into purchasing a set of portable speakers for the iPod as I don’t fancy carrying my hi-fi around the house!
There are quite a range of Apple iPod speakers, I’ve looked into a few so far. Once I’ve made my mind up I’ll report back with a full review of what I went for.
I’ve got about 600 photos stored on the iPod which takes up around 500Mb. When you store photos on the iPod you have the option to store them either in their original full resolution size, or you can store them at a lower resolution to preserve disk space. I opted to store them at a lower resolution. The picture quality is perfect for viewing on the iPod screen. Obviously if you want to store the photos on the iPod and then copy to another PC it would be better to store the photos at their full resolution. To be honest though, I hardly ever use the photo feature of the iPod.
I haven’t used the video feature that much either. I’ve downloaded a few podcasts and the picture and sound quality has been excellent.
The battery life of the iPod is OK although I find that if you often press the controls, for example to see what music track is playing, or when watching videos, then the battery indicator soon starts to drop. You can reduce the screen brightness and the backlight timer to save battery life, but I prefer the default settings. If like me, you just tend to switch the iPod on and leave it to play music, without fiddling with the controls too much, then the battery life is much better.
I haven’t tried utilizing the contacts or calendar features of the iPod yet. I’ve read that you can synchronize with Microsoft Outlook but I’ve heard mixed reports about how successful this is. If I could view all my Outlook appointments on the iPod, and get an audible reminder of appointments on the iPod as well, then it would be useful. This is an area I don’t really know much about so I will have to investigate further.
There is also an ‘Extras’ section on the iPod where you can perform tasks like storing notes, use a stopwatch and play games. Apart from the games this is an area of the iPod I never use now. The iPod comes bundled with the following games – Brick, Music Quiz, Parachute and Solitaire.
The solitaire game is OK although I find the controls for selecting and moving the cards a bit fiddly. Music Quiz is quite good though, this involves the iPod playing a short excerpt of one of your music tracks at random. You then have to choose the correct answer from a multiple choice selection. Overall these games have limited appeal, although they would come in handy if stuck at an airport for example. There are many more games you can download from the iTunes store if you fancy playing some other games.
There is a lot of helpful information on the Apple iPod support web site which is worth reading at some point. You might find a few useful tips and tricks in there. The ‘Learn More’ section in particular is worth a read.
This review is not a complete overhaul of the iPod. There are many more features I haven’t discussed. But to be honest, the only feature I use on my iPod is to play music! That’s what matters to me at the end of the day. All the other features could be regarded as gimmicks where the novelty factor soon wears off.
I could have probably bought a cheaper MP3 player that just played music, but something drew me to buy the iPod video. I guess that is the slick Apple marketing for you 
Buy the Apple 30Gb iPod from Amazon.
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10 responses so far ↓
1 Chuck // Feb 27, 2007 at 4:43 am
I have a white 30GB iPod but hated the playtime that i got – especially with video. I watch lots of movies on mine and was only getting 1 hour after a full charge. Ended up getting a apple iPod Battery from ipodjuice.com and now I get 3.5 hours of video and loads more of audio.
I used to charge my iPod Video directly to my pc but found that i get a longer charge if I go directly to my wall outlet instead. Not sure why this is the case but I also want to test out usb charging via firewire so we will see.
Cheers.
-chuck
2 Dean // Feb 27, 2007 at 8:51 am
Thanks for the link. It’s also interesting that you get a longer charge when you go directly to the wall outlet.
I recently bought the AV connection kit which came with a wall outlet charger but I haven’t had the chance to use it yet. The charger uses a 2 pin plug which is fine for use in the US, but not so good for use in the UK where I live
I must try and buy a travel adapter but I’ve been put off before because the travel adapter sold my Apple is ridiculously expensive.
3 Apple iPod AV Connection Kit Review // Mar 9, 2007 at 8:06 pm
[...] I purchased my 30Gb iPod in the US last year I decided to take advantage of the excellent Sterling to Dollar exchange rate [...]
4 Mike // Apr 13, 2007 at 8:18 am
I only got a USB plug so how do you connect it to the wall outlet?
5 Dean // Apr 13, 2007 at 8:33 am
I think the only way to connect it to the wall outlet is to buy a USB power adapter. You would then connect your USB plug into the power adapter and then plug the power adapter into the wall outlet.
More on the USB power adapter here:
http://technical-itch.co.uk/2007/03/09/apple-ipod-av-connection-kit-review/
Let me know if that helps.
6 Dean // Apr 13, 2007 at 8:47 am
One thing I forgot to mention about the USB power adapter. It will only work in North America since it uses the US style 2 pin plug. If you wish to use the power adapter elsewhere in the world then you would need a buy a separate travel adapter.
The setup would look as follows:
iPod –> USB –> power adapter –> travel adapter –> wall socket
Quite fiddly eh! and the travel adapters are expensive too.
7 Umakant Thakare // Jan 22, 2008 at 10:41 am
I have a black 30GB iPod, it gets hang most of the time.Could you please give me the solution on this…
8 Dean // Jan 22, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Can you provide some more details. When you say it hangs most of the time, does this happen when playing songs or videos, or when connecting the iPod to a computer?
I doubt though whether I can provide much help to you. I recommend you try posting your question on the Apple discussion forum.
9 Thomas // Nov 10, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I’m getting an iPod touch. Can I have some info on it please?
10 Dean // Nov 23, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Thomas,
Try doing a search on Google or better still visit the Apple web site. That should provide some info for you.
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