Apple's iPod gets a face-lift

MP3 player becomes increasingly popular among college crowd

By Rory Van Loon

Long gone are the days of the Sony Walkman. The disc player from the early ’90s with the way-too-cool colors is now collecting dust in an archaic museum somewhere far away. While the creations of our youth seem to be being reinvented, so too is the idea of the walkman.

Apple has come out recently with the iPod, an mp3 player that works with iTunes, Apple’s online music store. With its 2 inch screen dominating the face of the iPod, it resembles a sleek futuristic portable TV, yet it’s the size of a cell phone.

Because it works with Macs and PCs the iPod has become increasingly popular among college students and in urban areas. The iPod will play all mp3s, regardless of where the music was downloaded from.

Most iPod users agree that this creation is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Kyle Makki, a 16 year-old owner, claims he listens to all his music on it. “The iPod itself is great, but it doesn’t have enough battery life, and it’s not very durable,” Makki said.

Brett Gipson, a 20-year-old college student, agrees with Makki’s statement. “The batteries wear out pretty fast,” Gipson says “I have to charge it every night just so I can use it the next day without any problems.”

Software industries are also finding problems in dealing with the iPod’s bootleg capabilities. Although the iPod has a built-in anti-piracy protection device that prevents music files from being copied from one computer to another, there is no such device for protecting software.

The quick downloading capability of the iPod makes it a prime culprit for copying software off any computer.

But, this hasn’t stopped the popularity of the iPod from growing.

The newest updated feature to the iPod is the click wheel. This feature was already on the iPod mini but has been added on to update the 40GB and 20GB models. The click wheel allows the user to select playlists and scroll through different options without ever lifting his or her finger off the button.

The chance of punching the wrong selection is greatly reduced by the click wheel.

Apple’s iPod is designed to have 25 minutes of skip protection.

This allows the owner of the device to participate in activities that would naturally cause music to skip, such as jogging.

Additionally, the iPod has a microphone and voice recorder that enables a person to record class lectures, interviews, or something as simple as a personal memo telling him or her to pick up milk on the way home.

A consumer has a choice between iPod 40 GB, iPod 20 GB, and Apple’s newest addition to the family, the iPod mini. The difference lies in the number of songs each model can store.

The 40 GB holds 10,000 songs while the 20 GB holds approximately 5,000 songs. Both models have a battery life of 12 hours. The mini holds up to 1,000 songs with a life span of about eight hours.

The iPod mini is available in five colors, while the regular iPod is only available in white.

These portable inventions range in price depending on which model one chooses. The mini iPod is $250 while the 20GB is $300. The iPod 40GB is $400.

The device also offers contact information where one can store names, numbers, and e-mail addresses.

People on the go can ditch their address books and store all their information within this little device.
It also has a calendar that helps the user keep up with all his or her appointments. Along with this feature comes an alarm clock and a sleep timer.

The iPod allows a person to take text-based information on the go.

One can easily download news, stock tips, music reviews and restaurant listings.

Belkin, a wireless network, has teamed up with Apple to provide iPod users with products designed to enhance the usage of the iPod.

For instance, Belkin has created two products that allow photographers to transfer the contents of their memory cards onto an iPod. Apple claims that the 40GB can hold up to 24,000 photos; photos are to be taken on a three megapixel camera.

The iPod is also stocked with more than 5,000 audio books, and can import additional titles.

The iPod has a digital bookmark that will hold the user’s place and allow him or her to resume from that very place at a later time.