- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 190 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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26 out of 34 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"good for music, not so good for videos"
Pros: user friendly, bright screen, slim, good sound
Cons: i suppose the lack of radio and recoding capabilities, mediocre battery life, comes with bare bone accessories
Summary: alright, there are way too many whiners, complainers and idiots that have reviewed this item. and you know what? it gives no friggin useful information to anyone...so let a wise guy give the definitive review here to silence the squables.
audio...excellent. no big suprise here. all of the ipod series have produced good quality music even with so-so head phones/earphones/earbuds on. there are plenty of EQ settings to keep people happy, i know there are a few that want manual EQ settings...but seriously, the amount of people that can hear the difference between the "Rock" setting and if i eased the treble up one notch are few and far between. if you can, you should probably go work at Bose or something.
battery life...the biggie here. its not great, if left running continously, according to CNET it will run 14 hours. with the way i listen to, changing songs about ever 7 min or so, it lasted me....i'm guessing 12 hours (i had to recharge it after day 3 with about 3-4 hours of listening per session). that was achieved with close to the loudest setting and no backlight. your mileage may vary, but whichever way you cut it you can always use more battery life..
video...the culprit of the whole bash sessions i read here. i tried the video, and honestly, i'll go with steve jobs here. its just an extra damn bonus...nothing more, nothing less. before y'all get your knickers in a twist, watching a tv show on a 2.5 inch screen was already tedious...lets not even get into watching a full length feature film. yes i know there are other PVP players out there, or MP3 players with video capability and i'll still say the same thing. you're nuts if you're gonna watch Lord of the Rings on a screen, any screen, maximum size of your hand. i let my friends try to watch videos on it and we all eventually held the ipod closer and closer to our faces. so did it matter to me that with video the battery life gets cut down to 2 hours? nope. for those who posted on here saying how great some other PVP or MP3 player with video capabilities has made their life...seriously, you're watching a tv show/movie on a screen smaller than the size of sliced bread. how comfortable is that anyway? i agree it makes for pleasant distraction for those who utilize mass transit systems frequently but for those who got the ipod for jogging/studying/easy listening/or drive their car to work...i doubt they will give a bunny fart about watching some tv show they missed. that being said, watching a music video on it...ok. watching an episode of sex and the city...err do-able. watching a ripped dvd/vcd/whatever...your eyes will die long before the ipod's battery dies.
user interface...if my tech challenged parents could use it so can you. if you can't, then my friend, you and i need to have a serious talk about your scholastic/academic/mental capabilities. jesting aside, it's hopelessly easy. you either scroll up or down, press the button (the big fat white thing in the middle) to select the option/menu you want and press back to get back out.
things i don't understand...why can't apple stick a radio on their? i see how it maybe ironic to have 30 gigs of music and still need a radio but who knows right? bare bones acessories? what the hell is going on here? i shell out 300 bucks the least they can do is give me a decent case, dock and charger to go along with it.
as for the rest who complain about how apple is a great big evil company...well get over it cafone. either you never took a course in business or your just too stupid to realize the most basic rule of business...to make money. if you have lots of shareholders, then you must make lots of money. of course they are going to change the ipod around at some point forcing other companies to either renew their contract or something. of course they are going to pump countless millions in PR to get their product out in the open. of course they will charge you money to buy video/music to go along with their products. and if they are really competitive they will limit their products to be only compatible with the videos/music they offer.
you don't like that? well tough luck. i'm not saying this because i like/dislike apple. to quote the Godfather on this, "it's nothing personal, it's just business" whether you folks out there like it or not, microsoft, apple, creative, iriver, samsung...are all about making money first. do you not think, that given the chance, creative or anyother company would kill to do exactly the same thing? but sadly apple was the one company that beat all others to the step.
and finally, to quote a previous reviewer...most people want to be able to plug their mp3 players to their computers and have it sync without extra configuration. ipod does that. most people want to get videos on their ipod by just plugging it in. apple does that. most people don't care whether it has video streaming, bluetooth, wifi, infra-red, manual equalizer, dolby digital, PIM tools, mpeg 1,2,3,4,....1098354 support, wma, ogg, rma and God knows what else. all they care about is that its easy to use and it works. apple does that. yes you can smirk with your all knowing smile thinking that 75% of the people out there are idiots for buying an ipod. you can smirk till you're blue in the face and it won't change the fact that the ipod, as hated as it may be, is still a very good MP3 player. but the truth is, in the end, will your superior wonder gadget be obsolete within 2 years, most definitely. will the ipod? yes. so whats the difference really?
this is the best and most freaking complete review so far that is UNBIASED. so i better not see anymore of you pezzanovantes come up with another smart remark about this subject. that's it boys, watch your backs and keep your noses clean.
- 15 replies to this review
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Great review, my only issue is the 2year bit. I've had my 2G iPod since they came out and I still use it all the time. So I can't use the video functions of the newer stuff, it doesn't stop me from listening to my music or Podcasts!
While it has been great, it has a batter life of about 5-6 hours at this point. Yeah, I could change out the battery, but I figure at this point a 5G is the better way to go...
I think I'll look into that Battery Geek for added life tho...
All in all, I'm not buying a 5G for the new video features, I'm buying it because the iPod is an extremely solid product that over the last 5 years has proved to me that it lasts a heck of a lot longer than the other brands. -
cnet should hire you
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I own a Video iPod and I totally love it. My only complaint with it was the 2 hour video battery life. Just recently I picked up the Battery Geek GeekPod 100 battery pack and this thing has been a lifesaver for me. As far as audio run time goes with this battery, i'm getting approximately 100+ hours of additional audio run time per charge. As far as video run time goes with it, i'm getting approximately 12 hours of additional video run time per charge. The way this external ipod battery pack works is when I plug it into my iPod it recharges my internal iPod battery while simultaniously powering my iPod the same way as if my iPod was docked. I would recommend the iPod video to anyone however if you plan on watching over 2 hours of video per charge, just make sure you pick up that extra GeekPod battery pack. I hope this helps someone.
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I've NEVER respond to a reviews but yours was worthy of at least that much -- it cracked me up too.
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wow! greatest review ever!!! so much info!
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wow! greatest review ever!!! so much info!
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wow! greatest review ever!!! so much info!
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wow! greatest review ever!!! so much info!
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Great Review..... anyway I just wanted to point out that some people (me) look out for a PVP that can last movie-long so I can plug it into a bigger TV....
Im going for the Archos Gmini 402... its not better than ipod g5 but it has it advantages (4-5 hours video playback / usb host) -
Finally, someone who is able to articulate the incredulous frustration I suffer: faced with swathes of ipod haters who think they're absolute geniuses for liking creative or iriver better. Then they have to go and foist their opinions off onto me. It's like, dude! I've already researched the market! I ain't got anything against your brand, I just wanted an IPOD, so stop belittling my choice of product! And then... the whole, 'apple is evil' thing. It's business. People want to make money. And they're not going to jump into your pockets and steal your wallet if your willpower dictates that you don't want to buy their stuff. So, yes, to all such people, please, please get over yourselves and stop plaguing innocent consumers with your tribalism.
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Finally, someone who is able to articulate the incredulous frustration I suffer: faced with swathes of ipod haters who think they're absolute geniuses for liking creative or iriver better. Then they have to go and foist their opinions off onto me. It's like, dude! I've already researched the market! I ain't got anything against your brand, I just wanted an IPOD, so stop belittling my choice of product! And then... the whole, 'apple is evil' thing. It's business. People want to make money. And they're not going to jump into your pockets and steal your wallet if your willpower dictates that you don't want to buy their stuff. So, yes, to all such people, please, please get over yourselves and stop plaguing innocent consumers with your tribalism.
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Most comprehensive review I have read in days of searching through info on the newest generation of iPods. As I suspected, it's exactly what I'm looking for and will be purchasing one. So many reviews are foggy with non-committal and generalized comments, you can't decide if the reviewer likes the item and has been bribed by a competing manufacturer or doesn't like the item and is being paid off by Apple. Thank you for an excellent summary of this device! I'll stick to watching video on my laptop!
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I have wanted an iPod for about 2 years. I am not a tech-y person so I just wanted an MP3 player for long road trips and such. I have held off on getting one but now that I am working out, and now that I have soooo many pics of the kids that I want to show everyone, I thought this is the perfect gadget. So, I started reading reviews about it and all I was reading was complaints about this and that...well, all I want to do is watch a show every now and again...I will use it mainly for listening when working out and photo storage. I don't have to have Bose quality sound or plasma quality picture....those things are nice to have but, I just want to listen to my music. So thank you for this great review...I am going out to buy one today.
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I completely agree with everything you said. Its nice to see someone call it as it is and not just whine about how bad and evil apple is.
I also dont understand why Apple cant be bothered to throw in a freakin FM Radio and at least an AC charger for the damn thing. I guess money is the key word for apple and ANY other corporation.
I enjoyed the no non-sense approach of your review. There needs to be more reviews like it. -
Ditto, to everything you said and then some. And that you so much for reviewing the product! Good Lord. What's wrong with these people.
Where to buy
Apple iPod 5G (30GB, video):
$399.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$399.99 | See Site |
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