Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Features
An ode to my iPod video
How do I love my iPod video? Let me count the ways. Seriously, I adore this small piece of technology. It's nearly 3 years old now -- I ordered it the first day it was available -- and this 5th generation 30GB iPod video unit is still chugging along and making our lives better.
First and foremost, it is an absolutely fab music player. Apple did it right. My iPod offers all the audio control I could ask for including my much-beloved parental controls that keep my kids from blasting out their ear drums. On behalf of parents everywhere, thank you Apple for giving my kids' ears a chance to grow up.
I'm not a serious audiophile, fussing about detailed audio reproduction. I have listened to music of every genre, podcasts, audio books and so forth on this thing and it still sounds great.
The iPod video is the perfect size. It fits in my hand and my pocket, my purse and my backpack. It's quite a bit smaller and lighter than my iPhone despite its onboard hard drive.
More of my overflowing praise for the iPod video below...
The click wheel on the iPod lets me control playback from my pocket. I can change the volume and click back and forth between tracks without ever looking. And it does this without ever making me wear earbuds, a headset style that I loathe.
I love my iPod's video out features. I have a rigged-up hacked-together video system in my car, all based on the fact that my 5G iPod can output video through the ear jack using a standard cable. Hundreds of hours of kids video have passed through my iPod. My son thinks of it as a SpongeBob dispensing device.
My iPod can play games. Sure, most of the games are pretty limited but we're fond of the quizzes and miniature golf and mahjongg. And my daughter plays Phase to a Hannah Montana soundtrack.
My iPod is a portable hard drive too. I've used it to ferry around work folders and medical records over the years. And it's been modded at one time to provide guided tours for a school project -- because it could.
My iPod can record audio. I bought one of those memo microphones for a TUAW story about the iPod touch a while back. But because the touch requires pre-amplification, that mic found a home on my iPod video instead. Without installing any special software, I can record memos on my iPod and they sync right into iTunes. Is that handy or what?
My iPod is a whiz at slide shows. I can hook up the same (free) cable to the iPod that I use in my car and project our latest iPhotos on our TV. I checked a box in iTunes a few years ago and now I don't even think about it. The photos are there.
And have I gone on enough about the 30GB of hard drive storage? That's umpteen hours of podcasts, photos, Top Chef episodes, music, audio books and so forth. We will not run low on Avatar and Hannah Montana any time soon.
My iPod is insanely durable. This baby has been dropped, kicked, chewed, undercharged, overcharged, punted, and worse. My then-two-year-old put it through the paces and it's still producing high-quality SpongeBob three years later as he gets ready to head off to Kindergarten.
Before the iPod video, I didn't have much use for iPods. They were sweet, they did music but they just didn't fit my lifestyle. The second I saw the video model though, it clicked. This was the one. The promised iPod. The right fit.
And it was.
(Yay Apple.)
Feel free to join in the gushing iPod love in the comments.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Basye said 5:37PM on 6-18-2008
I also ordered the 5.5 gen 30 gig iPod video on the day it was announced, and have been amazed at what a workhorse it is. I love being able to store files (especially photos) on there and share them with clients, without having to drag out the MBP.
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Mason said 5:38PM on 6-18-2008
"The click wheel on the iPod touch lets me control playback from my pocket"
Excuse me, but since when has there been a click wheel on the iPod touch? I think you mean the iPod video....
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tom.b said 6:51PM on 6-18-2008
Here too:
"My iPod touch is insanely durable. This baby has been dropped, kicked, chewed, undercharged, overcharged, punted, and worse. My then-two-year-old put it through the paces and it's still producing high-quality SpongeBob three years later as he gets ready to head off to Kindergarten."
djfost said 5:50PM on 6-18-2008
lol you mentioned it in "My iPod touch is insanely durable." aswell..
I'm sure it is, but I thought this was about the iPod Video? :D
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Guevara said 5:59PM on 6-18-2008
'My iPod touch is insanely durable. [...] it's still producing high-quality SpongeBob three years later as he gets ready to head off to Kindergarten'.
Two inadvertent instances of referring to Ipod Video as Ipod Touch in a post glorifying the former! Erika, methinks Freud might say you should just come out and admit what you really love is the Ipod touch.
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Mauricio Armada said 6:05PM on 6-18-2008
I have to agree. I have the same 5G video iPod and i must say, Beach, Snow, Dessert, Ocean, Sky (It REALLY has been to all of those!) , It still continues to faithfully reproduce my music in brand new Quality. Never once seeing a Genius at the apple store, it is now comfortably nestled in the Armrest of my 2008 Infiniti G35s, hooked up to my iPod interface, and serving up over 2100 songs!! Beat that 6-CD Changer!!! Long Live 5G iPod!!!!
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mmendoza27 said 6:15PM on 6-18-2008
Right now, I'm hooking up my iPhone to my Infiniti G35, it works just like the iPod. However, I've thought about purchasing a 160GB iPod classic just to serve my music to the Infiniti.
The 80 will probably do the job, but I don't know, I'm already coming up to 10,000 songs and 60GB of music, so I might as well get the big one. Hopefully the Infiniti song counter goes past 10,000
Mauricio Armada said 6:22PM on 6-18-2008
Yea im still not up to that many songs, and i also use my iPhone to put music in the car. The best thing is it keeps it charged so whenever i get it out of the car i can rest assured my iPod is fully charged every time, as well as not having to plug in a car adapter for my iPhone (which i thinks looks ugly to have plugged in a car.). I may Upgrade someday but for right now this bad boy is well alive and serving up just what i needed from it.
BHendrix said 6:09PM on 6-18-2008
"Slow news day come on TUAW..."
"It's a blog you idiot lighten up..."
"Hey you shut up..."
"No you shut up..."
Thank you! :D
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JD said 6:13PM on 6-18-2008
You forgot: Poor Erica Sadun, all tied up with her book and NDA, unable to do proper posts on TUAW for months now...
Rick said 7:03PM on 6-18-2008
@JD
haha, that's right, we haven't heard much from her lately, have we?!
Nathan Gimpel said 6:12PM on 6-18-2008
I used mine nearly everyday for the past couple years but the hard drive completely went to crap about a week ago. I'm debating on whether to rebuild it or wait until a new iPod Touch with decent capacity or the iPod 7g shows up.
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Mario Panighetti said 6:15PM on 6-18-2008
I too purchased the 5G iPod at launch, though I opted for the 60GB model. My iPhone has become my primary music playback device on account of the saved pocket space, but the iPod has kept a wonderful niche as video playback device for the TV. I keep a large collection of DVD rips in iTunes, sync 'em up and play them on the big screen. Sometimes I've considered getting an Apple TV, but the iPod fulfills this function so flawlessly that there was no need.
I may have to go look for a mic for it, as I'd love to get more use out of that massive hard drive beyond cramming hours of television shows on it (which is friggin' awesome, being able to go through several seasons of Lost and Heroes without a resync).
I love my iPod video!
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Nio said 10:06PM on 6-18-2008
I have to agree, my 5.5 gen ipod video is still one of the best iPods I have used/owned, I also have a Touch and Nano, but the video is still my favorite. It takes a beating and keeps on producing excellent sound and video quality...
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Jeremie said 6:44PM on 6-18-2008
I also have a 5.0 Gen Video iPod. Completely agree, love the Cheap accessories available (video out cable, etc). What I can't stand, is that one part of the software upgrade on the 5.5 gen was not pushed to the 5.0 gen; Search. It would be a huge asset to help go through my near 6K songs on the iPod.
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Rubbinz said 6:48PM on 6-18-2008
When mine died 4 months ago, I took it out to the range and shot it, like I do with all of my old dead tech. Kinda like putting an old horse down, or Old Yeller.
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sam fisher said 6:53PM on 6-18-2008
That was the biggest waste of time I've ever spent reading an 'article'. Please spend more of your own time trying to figure out how to save $20 a month on your iPhone bill so you can't make phone calls, instead of writing something that you fail to proofread, kthnxby.
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Thomas said 10:04PM on 6-18-2008
word
Fluidmaster said 1:14AM on 6-19-2008
What, you thought an article called "An ode to my iPod video" was going to be Serious Tech Journalism? And you went ahead read it anyway?
Maybe you should be spending more time on the can with your eWeek instead of reading blogs, since your time is so valuable and all.
julian said 7:11PM on 6-18-2008
Ah i love my ipod
the sad thing is that it is starting to go :(
the battery only lasts like 3 hours? maybe less it
its going to be so sad.. i think im getting an iphone but ... i reallllllly will miss that wheel :(
i think my alarm clock overcharged it cause i docked it every day.. :(
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