Data and songs coming out of your ears

By PETER GRIFFIN

When former Apple Computer head John Sculley breezed through Auckland a few months back he did not have much good to say about what became of the firm after he left.

But he did heap praise on Apple's "i" range - iMac, iBook, iPod, iTunes - a line-up that Sculley said reminded him of Apple in the early 1980s: innovative, market-leading, stylish.

The new, improved iPod is all of the above. It may look like something Fisher & Paykel would make, but it is the best MP3 player/storage device on the market.

The new model boasts a huge 30GB (gigabyte) hard drive - 7500 songs on a device the size of a pack of playing cards.

And you don't have to be a Mac owner to fully appreciate it. The iPod is becoming increasingly PC-friendly, with signs that the popular iTunes music software is even being redesigned for Windows.

Our computer was blessed with a Firewire port, which the iPod uses to connect with computers. But from next month you will be able to buy a USB adaptor ($37.95 plus GST) to connect your iPod to the PC - a bit more expensive but worth it.

PC users move songs between computer and iPod using the fairly competent MusicMatch software. Syncing both for our iBook and PC was smooth and fast.

In theory the iPod will only sync with one computer. In reality there are ways around it, allowing multi-syncing on computers, but it gets a bit complicated.

The iPod has a few nifty improvements on past models. While the menu system is largely unchanged, a new "on the go" feature lets you assemble a playlist while on the move - a great feature when you have thousands of songs to sort through.

It also has a fairly decent graphic equaliser. The iPod can store contacts, play games, wake you in the morning or read text files stored on the hard drive.

The new jog dial - great for scrolling through song playlists or adjusting the volume - has no moving parts. It is basically a touch-sensitive pad and it works well.

The iPod's inbuilt lithium-ion battery is supposed to last eight hours with equaliser and lighting disabled and with songs played at limited volume. But you will want the flashing lights and big sound, so battery time is more like five to six hours.

You can play the iPod songs through your computer, which will allow you to cut back on the MP3 files cluttering your hard drive - and feed the sound into your stereo.

As an MP3 player the iPod would be reasonable value for money, but enabling it for disk use turns it into a portable hard drive capable of holding 30GB of data. That's a huge advantage for mobile workers or people taking their projects home with them.

The iPod software gives users access to the iTunes Music Store, where you can buy songs individually for 99USc ($1.70) or most albums for US$9.99. Sadly, the store is not yet available outside the US.

Songs downloaded are encoded in the new Advanced Audio Coding (ACC) format, which are smaller files but offer better quality than MP3.

A word of warning: when the sign "Do not disconnect" flashes, take heed. I unplugged and put the iPod into a coma it only came out of hours later when the batteries had fully drained.

iPod


* Apple

* Price: 30GB, $1214; 15GB, $966; 10GB, $719. (30GB model sells for US$494-499 in the United States).

* Pros: Huge capacity, stylish, good syncing.

* Cons: USB adaptor sold separately, no iTunes store capability for us.

* Rating: 8/10.