iTunes is Apple's digital music jukebox for Macs with Mac OS X and PCs running Windows 2000 or XP. Besides filling the role of a personal jukebox, iTunes is how you get to Apple's online music store via the Internet. The iPod connects to your computer, which is how you transfer your iTunes music library to the portable digital music player.
With AAC MP4 as the main audio compression format, the impact an iPod can have on your music listening and home theater usage is tremendous. No longer are you tied to CD switching as you can design your own playlists on the fly using iTunes with minimal effort. The whole process is just so simply well designed and easy-to-use, once you're exposed to Apple's iPod and iTunes you'll be hooked.
AAC MP4 Format
The need for compression is the desire to fit the largest amount of data on a
hard drive. In the iPod and iTunes realm, the compression format of choice is AAC;
which like MP3, lets you fit more music on your iPod and your computer.
The AAC MP4 format is a relatively new compression technology that offers CD quality sound at MP3 file sizes. So music files that were once 70MB on a CD can now be saved on your computer at 5-7MB which allows you to save roughly 10 times more music than would otherwise be possible. With AAC MP4, the full sound quality of the original CD is retained so now audiophiles can join the digital music device revolution.
The iPod and iTunes go hand in hand. iTunes is the music manager/jukebox that enables you to import and manage your music and playlists, which you then can upload to the iPod or play over your computer.
Getting Your CD Library Into iTunes
Most everyone who has recorded an audio CD, MiniDisc, or Tape knows what a pain
it can be to have to switch between CDs to make a mix CD, or the trouble it is
to enter title and track information. With iTunes, creating your CD library and
making custom playlists couldn't be easier or more effortless:
- Insert a CD,
- iTunes starts up (if not already started) and displays track numbers of the songs on the CD
- From the "Advanced" menu, selecting "get CD track names" goes to an online database to retrieve all song information including name, album, year, and genre, thus automatically entering all the info for you
- From the track list you can choose to import all, or select only the tracks you want to import
- The songs are then imported into your iTunes library which can be managed into playlists, burned to CD, or copied over to your iPod
Managing your music library couldn't be easier than with iTunes. Searching for a keyword dynamically changes your music library list on the fly whether you have 100 or 10,000 songs. As soon as you start typing, the list of songs changes to what was found under your search criteria.
Creating playlists is a breeze as well. Simply add a folder, drag the songs you want from your library into the folder, and sort the song order anyway you like. Making custom mixes takes mere seconds and can be just as easily modified. Everything should be made this easy-to-use and convenient. You can practically do everything you want with your music library without thinking. The only downside is that iTunes is so easy to use that it's downright addicting.
The Mother of All Things Cool
When the iPod was first introduced it was way cool. The only downside was that
the original iPod offered only a decent amount of storage space for the $300-$400
asking price of the 5GB and 10GB units. One other downside for audiophiles was that
the iPod originally relied solely on the MP3 format, which sounds decent over computer speakers
and headphones, but lacks the full audio quality for those who demand it.
Now many generations ahead of the original white iPod, along with many other additions to the family, all iPods are simplistically elegant in their design and demure in size. Any other MP3 player feels and looks downright clunky compared to these masterpieces of industrial design. The new iPods operate via a circular click wheel where the user spins their thumb around the touch sensitive wheel to scroll up and down the on-screen menus, clicking the center button selects songs or drills deeper into menus, and the entire wheel depresses up, down, left and right, to activate play options or call up the menu.
The color LCD screen is easy-to-read and vibrant. You can set the backlight timer to automatically turn on once you press a button or begin scrolling, and then turn off after a few seconds of inaction. The latest iPods now have an even bigger screen with video playback capability for TV shows or music videos, or you can save your home movies to an iTunes friendly format and take your home movies on the road.
Compared to the 3rd generation iPods which used touch sensitive action buttons for the center button and main actions, the click wheels (which started out on the iPod mini) offer a much more solid feel and interaction than the sometimes finicky touch sensitive buttons of previous 3rd generation iPods. The only downside is that the click wheel's buttons aren't backlit, which is a non-issue after you learn where the buttons are.
All In The Family
iPods are available in the following configurations
- iPod (Black or White, 20 hour battery, 6 hour video)
- iPod Nano (24 hour battery)
- iPod Shuffle (Silver with built in clip, 12 hour battery)
The iPod comes with a 2.5 inch vibrant color screen, photo storage with slideshow capability, and video playback. The highly popular iPod Nano is the smallest full-fledged iPod with a color screen and amazingly small size. The iPod Shuffle offers no LCD screen, but is the smallest and lightest member of the iPod family.
The standard iPods are for those that wish to take most of their music library with them while the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle are for those with smaller music library, or for those that only want to take their selected bests from their iTunes music library. The thought behind the iPod Shuffle is that you'll switch out your iPod's music often. The iPod Nano will hold a considerable amount of music and, for many people, may be their entire music library. In any case, whatever your needs, there's an iPod for you.
The iPod's design is so sleek and cool looking you may find yourself gawking at its simplistic beauty from time to time. The standard iPods are about the size of a deck of cards, fit nicely in your hand, and are relatively lightweight. They're built with clean lines and have a completely durable feel. The iPod is no cheap hunk of plastic, but rather an elegant portable music library. The iPod Nano is just demure in size and 1/4 inch think by 3.5 inches tall by 1.7 inches wide. The Nano simply can't be beat by offering the capability of a full-fledged iPod in the smallest package possible. The iPod shuffle is simply a tiny rectangle at 1.62 x 1.07 x 0.41 inches, and weighs almost nothing.
Note: The iPod's rated battery life is based on continuous play. The iPod relies on a software system to run and never fully shuts down so you don't have to sit through a restart each time you turn it on. Therefore, the battery is drained slowly over time. For instance, 2 hours of usage day doesn't mean you could run for 6 days assuming a 12 hour battery life. It's more likely that you could run 2 hours of play for 3 days before the battery is drained or 12 continuous hours of play. Cycling through the menus a lot also drains the battery more.
Sound Quality Is The Key
Yes the iPod looks and interacts at such an elegantly simplistic level you'll
wonder why nothing like it has been created before, and why everything else isn't
made like this. Even with all the design finesse, when it comes down to it, sound quality is what makes the iPod shine. The iPod playing AAC MP4 files just
simply sounds as good as the original CD, except now your entire music library
is available at the click of a button.
Portable Sound Quality
The iPod's truest role is as a portable digital music player, which is likely
how it will be used the most. The provided earbud style headphones sound
crisp and detailed. While you won't hear all the deep level bass and soundstaging
as with stereo speakers, the earbuds sound awesome, and can crank pretty loud.
So loud in fact you most likely never turn the iPod's volume all the way up. The
earbuds are so light you may just forget you're wearing them.
Home Theater Sound Quality
Grab a stereo mini-jack to RCA composite stereo cable to allow connection via stereo
left/right inputs on your receiver and the iPod instantly takes on the role of
a portable music server. Connecting the iPod over a home theater sounds best when
using the optional docking station's direct line out.
This bypasses the audio stage of the iPod, and offers a more direct path for the
audio to your receiver/processor. In real world usage the sound difference isn't that noticeable, but you will be able to turn your iPod's volume all the way down to make the battery last a lot longer when using a dock.
If you don't have a dock, or prefer to use it as a computer connection, you can achieve fantastic results by connecting to your iPod to your receiver via the stereo headphone jack on the iPod. To achieve the best sound using this method you may need to turn the iPod's volume all the way up, and use the receiver to adjust the volume level. Without the iPod volume cranked, the sound is not as dynamic sounding, and just doesn't sound right. If you're connecting your iPod through a cassette adapter (people still have these?) you may need to fiddle with volume settings to get the right sound.
The iTunes Connection
To achieve the best sound quality though you need to connect your actual computer running iTunes to your stereo. The iPod is great and all but much better sound is achive with a computer connection. There are multiple ways of doing this.
- You can use a wireless laptop for usage asa jukebox that connects to your master playlist on your main computer wirelessly. This offers a great and convenient solution as you can search and select your music from your home theater.
- Apple offers a wireless router called Airport Express for $129 that offers a solution called "Air Tunes". This wireless routers connects plugs in next to your stereo and offer connection via left-right RCA mini-jack or an Optical Connection. In iTunes you can select whther to play music on our computer or through however many Airport Express stations you have in the house. What's nice is that you can rename the stations to the room name. So if you had three Airport Express station in the house iTunes could have a menu that allows you to choose to play music in the "family room", "home theater", "bedroom", or all. It really a nice solution. The only downside is that to choose music you have to go to whatever room the computer is in.
- You could also just run a long audio cable run from your computer to your home theater receiver. The obvious downside to this is running a long cable which can be a pain doing, plus can result in a loss of sound quality.
Car Sound Quality
Get a stereo mini jack to cassette tape converter and you're ready to take your
iPod in the car. The iPod's audio quality is no different in the car...
it just sounds awesome, there is a volume difference though. Setting your iPod's
sound over half may result in an overloading sound. The iPod sounds best over a car
stereo with a setting under half. Note: this setting may vary when used on different
brands of car stereos.
Some car companies are offering iPod connection options built in to the car, and a plethora of of aftermarket products are available for connecting your iPod directly to your car stereo. Also, you can get some third party accessories that will transmit you iPod audio over FM; essentially making your iPod a portable radio station with a 30-40 foot reach. Some of these perform great, others not so. The iTrip has been highly successful and positively reviewed although it's powered through the iPod and lessens battery life.
Which Size Is Right For You
The 30GB standard iPod with its 7500 song capacity will usually be enough for all but those that want to use the iPod for data storage or have vast music collections and the desire to carry that much music with them. The 30GB iPod holds so much music you can add hundreds
of songs at a whim without thought of how much space is left on your iPod. Which
is pretty much the true goal of larger capacity iPods, not to hold the most music, but
rather to be able to hold so much music that how much room you have never comes
to mind.
The standard iPods also support a color screen and the capability to store and display photos and video on the iPod screen or TV. While many may dismiss the utility of having your photos readily available for slideshows, don't knock it until you try it. While it may not be a feature used as often as the music utility, iPods in general offer so much hard drive space it would be a waste for Apple not to offer extra utilities like photos and video for iPod users.
The iPod Nano at 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB has a lot less storage than the standard iPod, but the Nano is perfect for those who don't need more than 1,000-2,000 songs in their pocket, like the demure size, and flash based memory instead of a hard drive that can fail if dropped. The nano is the best iPod ever made to to its size and versatily.
Is the iPod Worth The Money?
After you live with the iPod as your personal music library you'll never want
to go back to not having one. At about the size of a PDA, the iPod is easy
to take anywhere you go. What really changes is how much more you'll start listening
to your music again. No longer will a CD with only one good song be banished to
the bottom of the CD pile due to it being too cumbersome to get out and load
it into a CD player for just one song. On the iPod, one song is just as easy to get to as the next,
add these songs to a custom playlist, and you'll start listening to some of those
hidden gems of your music collection more and more.
Having most (if not all) of your music available at the touch of button is simply awesome. The iPod is definitely a value at $79, $149, $199, $249, and $349. To put it in perspective, MP3 music servers built for home theater cost a minimum of $2000, and that's usually with the crappy sounding MP3 format. The iPod can fill the role of a portable digital music player, music server, and music library. Enabling you to listen to your entire music collection much easier and more convenient than ever before. The iPod offers much more versatility than any music server could dream of.
The iPod is simply worth every dollar, which, by the way, is the cost of a tune if you want to buy one from the overly successful Apple Music Store, which is available online through iTunes on MacOS X and Windows 2000/XP.
Buying Music Will Never Be The Same
The Apple music store has been a tremendous success for Apple and the music
industry. It shows that consumers are willing to pay for music if sound quality
and convenience are offered, and the Apple Music Store exceeds every expectation
for quality and convenience.
Browsing or searching for music couldn't be easier. Setting up an account and buying music is just seamless. In fact, buying music is so easy to use that it's addicting. A broadband connection is recommended, but the site works flawlessly over a dial-up connection as well. With dial-up it does take about 3-5 minutes to download your typical 5-minute tune, but you can just walk away while your computer does the work for you. For purchased video, a broadband connection is definitely recommend as downloading an entire 43 minute show can take 10 minutes over a speedy internet connection.
The Apple Music Store just saves money. Instead of buying a whole CD for $10-$15 you can just buy just the tracks you want. If you do want the whole album, the Apple Music Store offers entire album purchases for $9.99 in most cases. The AAC MP4 files from the Apple Music Store sound just as good as AAC MP4 files made from CDs in iTunes. In some cases the sound quality from the music store may be even better depending on the masters used.
Much More Than The iPod
The iPod introduces people to iTunes, and the Apple Music Store. The combination
of all of these elements together offers a tremendously great musical experience.
After being exposed to the iPod and what comes with it, music may never be the
same. Will others try to offer what the iPod does? You bet, but if they don't
have iTunes, the Music Store, the ease of use of the iPod, and use the AAC MP4
format, they're not worth a dime much less the plastic they're made of.
It's no wonder why Apple's iPod is the number #1 portable digital MP3/MP4 player in the world and Apple's Music Store is the #1 online distributor of music. With everything the iPod offers, Apple's "tour de force" is simply unbeatable.
For more information on the iPod visit http://www.apple.com/music/