Former Kerbango Senior Design Engineer and current Webmaster of Woz.org Al Luckow weighs in on the iPod…
Former Kerbango Senior Design Engineer and current Webmaster of Woz.org Al Luckow weighs in on the iPod:
Jason,
It looks like a great device. I’ve yet to try one but I do have a Nomad andI have along list of complaints with that. Although nothing beats it untilpossibly Apple’s iPod. Without having tried the iPod I can assume that itworks with a Mac? Enough said. I’m sick of buying all these neat devices,only to find out that I have to go though some complicated hack to get it towork on my Mac. Since companies aren’t really going to go out of their wayto make something work well on Apple’s platform, I guess Apple had to takethe reigns and do it themselves. I’m glad to see they have expanded intothis area.
The firewire connection was a brilliant idea. The Nomad’s USB connection iscomparable to a slug on valium. I can’t wait to start transferring my MP3collection to the iPod. I am a little disappointed in the 5GB drive sizethough. My Nomad has a 6GB and it’s available in larger sizes as well. Asbig as it seems, you’d be surprised at how fast you can fill that up. Andthis type of device doesn’t really lend itself to copying on and off overand over again. Usually, people have a tendency to just try to get theirwhole collection on there and leave it at that. You don’t copy yourcollection off, then copy it back on again, and so on. You just get one bigblob of music and make multiple play lists.
The interface looks very familiar as it reminds me of the interface I didfor the Kerbango radio. However, these types of things often deal with thesame kinds of content so a streamlined intuitive interface will always havesimilarities. The bottom line is that you can understand it just by lookingat it and it looks like Apple did their usual excellent job with the UI.
The rechargeable lithium battery is a nice touch but I prefer rechargeablehigh capacity AA batteries. That way when I’m on, say a motorcycle trip, Ican easily bring a second set when the first one runs out. I don’t know howeasily I can obtain and charge a custom lithium polymer battery. Hopefullythey used a standard type.
The size of the iPod is fantastic: 6.5 ounces! That seriously blows theNomad away. The nomad is as clunky as a portable CD player and a tad bitheavier.
Overall, my first impression is hurray for Apple.My second impression is $399! Yikes! I think I’ll wait.