I am the proud owner of the new iPod Touch, the 8GB version. Yes, proud.
And in short terms; wow. I have not been this excited about an mp3-player (well, audio player I guess, as it supports more formats than MP3 as we all know).
For those of you considering getting one I am sure you have heard of all the issues with the early models, in particular the pre-week 37 ones.
However, the ones produced after week 38 is fine, and is indicated (usually) by a picture of Macy Gray on the box itself ... You can also tell from the serial number, the 4th number from the left indicates week of production (ex. XXX38XXXX)
The unit is so solid, the form factor is amazing, and web-browsing on a small screen is finally working. I have not seen a device that can actually function browsing full websites on such a small screen.
Oh,and its also a music player. Regarding audio quality I cant really say if its better or worse than any other iPods. For me its very fine, coupled with my Shure e3c canal-headphones. Anyway, those who are concerned about the sound quality of the Touch will have to find out for themselves, not listen to me. (The variables are so many when it comes to things like this; the bottlenecks before the DAC kicks in are many: The quality of the compressed audio file and the headphones being used will play a lot bigger part in my opinion. Try for yourself!)
I had some issues playing VBR Lame Mp3's on my iPod Mini, but I have had no issues on the Touch.
There are some minor issues though, that I hope will be handled somehow:
1: I run windows XP 64 bit edition. You can not use the touch with any 64 bit Windows operating system. This (I hope) will be fixed soon. So XP 64bit and Vista 64bit will not work with the iPod Touch nor the iPhone. Go figure, this is poor integration. I have to run VMWARE and rund XP 32 bit edition to be able to sync it. This is the only solution apart from reinstalling my OS and run the 32 bit version of Windows.
2: There is only 1 button. Having the player in my pocket and changing songs/volume etc. is more or less impossible I found. I have to take it out, unlock it, navigate to the music menu and then change. This is a hassle. I will get some form of remote control if it comes out for it. So if you need a player thats super easy to access I think you should get something else. For me, the multi-purpose use of having WiFi and web-browsing easily makes it worth it for me.
3: No 3rd party software (yet...). Id really like to see development of 3rd party aps for the Touch. This will certainly come, but I would wish that this is something Apple would support and supply SDK's to the ones that would be interested.
4: The first one I bought had a dead pixel. I couldn't have that, so I took it back to the Apple Store here in SF. They replaced it, I took a new one back home. Upon examining the new one I found it also had a dead pixel. Darn it. Took that one back, they gave me another new one, I looked soooo closely at it while in the store, found it had no dead pixels, and its the one I am currently using. Good service Apple, but if you order it and you have to send it back by mail, this would be a little frustrating.
I just thought I would share this. I once promised I would never buy another Apple product untill they removed all DRM from the iTunes store, and since they are heading in the right direction (and the Touch is soooo pretty...) I just couldnt resist.
In other words, if you are considering getting one, I can most certainly recommend it.
My main reason for holding out on the touch and the iPhone is that they don't have enough memory yet. Maybe the 2nd gens will have over 30GB and i'll pick one up. I really want to be able to drag my CD collection and a few DVDs with me on long trips.
Considering the video playback capabilities, i just really think 8/16GB isn't enough. Wish they'd done a HD version. I'd have put up with the bulk.
I too have a iPod touch and really like it. I ordered a 160GB iPod classic to replace my 5G 60GB iPod for the long trips where I want to take every single lossy song and video along with me. I was looking at purchasing a 3G iPod nano for my class trips but the iPod touch seemed pretty good. My campus has wi-fi all over the place with free internet browsing for students. I have always wanted a portable wi-fi device and I have a pocket PC that I used for that. However, I did not like the idea of taking two devices (my iPod and pocket PC) to class just so I can surf the internet while I listen to music. I could have just used my pocket PC but it gets about 2 hours of battery life when surfing the internet and listening to music. It gets about 6 hours when just surfing the internet or 8 hours when playing music with the screen off.
The only thing that I don't like about the iPod touch is its capacity. I understand that Apple wanted to go with all flash memory and that they believe flash memory is the future for devices. I just wish they added a SD/MMC card slot, then I could purchase a 16GB card down the line and I would have 32GB of storage. However, Apple has locked out the consumer in terms of upgrading their iPod touch. A little saddening. I don't think Apple could have gotten away with a hard drive based iPod touch though. The unit would have been about as thick as a 1G iPod with the hard drive and larger battery. On top of that, I am sure there would have been some design issues in terms of stability. So I really do understand their use of flash memory. I just don't like that they didn't add a expansion slot. After all, you can add more memory to the iPhone so I figured it would have been on the iPod touch as well.
I can't really recommend this player to other people though. I agree with the above review but I just don't think it is that good of a all around player. I think the iPod classic is a much better bargain if people are looking for a DAP that will carry their entire libraries (or almost), offer great battery life for both audio and video, and the iPod classic is still a great design. I think the iPod touch is like the first entry. The design isn't perfect since it is the first design. Apple will go through and begin perfecting things. I am sure they are already hard at work on a 2G iPod touch. I do think that the iPod touch gives us a glimpse of the future of iPods. I think that all iPods will evolve to have a giant touch screen along with wi-fi and other features.
If I could, I would go back and wait for the next generation iPod touch. It is nice and all but I just don't like the capacity. It isn't bad for music as I can make a playlist that is about 2.5 days long and the iPod touch will hold it. I just don't like that the playlist completely fills the iPod touch so I really have no room for videos. The iPod touch's screen is really beneficial for video playback and I think a 16GB capacity really makes it hard for people to balance audio and video.
@kornchild2002
I agree with you on your points. It does have some issues, however for me the space issue is not a big deal. I have never understood why people need to have 160GB with them in their pocket. Granted I have a large collection of music I do not need to carry it around with me all the time. For me its more of a fun exploration choosing what to bring and what not to bring.
Regarding video, I would guess its not perfect having only 8GB/16GB as it would be filled up quite fast. I dont use it for video much so for me thats not an issue.
I agree with you that its not for everyone just yet, but for what it is right now I believe its an awesome device. I dont think there will be a second generation coming out any time soon. They might upgrade the memory some time in the future as I am sure flash memory prices will drop due to a higher amount of sales and production...
For me, 8GB is more than sufficient, and if I should ever leave my house for more than a month I am sure I would bring my laptop so that I could sync it on the road.
sizetwo I don't know if you already know about this but you can double tap the home button to gain quick access to controls even when it's locked.
I agree 16GB is limiting for video playback purposes (although not nearly as bad as you'd think with h264 and AAC), but I also can see Apple's perspective esp considering the prices of flash + other high tech in touch - ie a whole computer running OS X.
Considering the video playback capabilities, i just really think 8/16GB isn't enough. Wish they'd done a HD version. I'd have put up with the bulk.
The limited space is what makes the Touch a dealbreaker for me too, but I don't think a HD would even work on a device like this. Remember that it's running OSX, so there'd be some awful lagtimes when navigating around the system (even the iPod classic suffers a lot from this).. If the HD was running at all times, the battery life would be abysmal and, as the small 1.8" drives aren't designed for full-time use, the disk would probably suffer a very short lifespan.. In a couple of years though, the Touch will probably be an awesome product as flash storage doubles or triples its capacity..
Having the player in my pocket and changing songs/volume etc. is more or less impossible I found. I have to take it out, unlock it, navigate to the music menu and then change.
This is exactly why this model is out of the question for me. It looks flashy, but is impossible to use. iPod classic looks sweet though.
Hey, I just received my iPod Touch and was unaware, until now, that they do not work on 64 bit versions of Windows Vista...I noticed you said you you WMware...could you tell me how to use that so I can use my iPod Touch? That'd be awesome!