- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 27 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"Objective review"
Pros: Sleek exterior design, light weight, simplistic menu, gapless playback, ID3 tag recognition
Cons: Apple's DRM, iTunes lock-in, sound quality, headphones
Summary: I purchased my first iPod last month. I previously had used a Creative Zen Vision:M, and a Dell DJ20 before that. So I have used a variety of players.
I decided to purchase the iPod after my home was broken into and my Creative Zen was stolen (along with everything else). The Creative was a fabulous player and I was torn between buying another one or the iPod. I ultimately decided to go with the ipod due to its support of gapless playback. I listen to a lot of continuous music (classical, trance, trip-hope, etc) so the ability to play tracks with seamless transition is important to me. However, I was disappointed that the gapless playback was not perfect upon listening. It is close, but there is definitely a slight gap between tracks that are encoded to play gapless. It is definitely better than what the Creative could do, but I would not say it is true gapless playback.
The menu system is functional and pleasing to they eye. The famed click wheel is ok; it works, but I truly preferred the vertical scroll bar on the Creative Zen more. This is probably a matter of preference to most though.
I consider myself an audiophile and encode most of my music in either lossless format or high bit-rate encoding. Using quality headphones (super.fi 5 Pro) the sound quality of the iPod is good, but not excellent. The Creative Zen Vision is a notch above the iPod in this category. The Apple headphones are garbage. Most would consider this an obvious, as OEM headphones are always lacking. However, I wrongly assumed the Apple's would be of decent quality as I see so many people using them with their iPods. I suppose this just means most people don't really care about the quality of their sound.
Another qualm I have with the iPod is its lock-in with iTunes. I do not like iTunes nor do i enjoy being locked into using it, which you are with the iPod. With other players, you have a variety of methods to add music to the player, the simplest being drag and drop. I will say that iTunes and the iPod do an excellent job with tag recognition, which is definitely a plus when it comes to organizing your music.
Ultimately, the 5th gen iPod is a good player. Its aesthetics and the functionality are great. But considering the lackluster audio quality, I stop well short of calling it an excellent player. There are lots of things i love about it, but I always find myself wanting more from it. All things considered, if I had to do it over again, I would purchase the Creative Zen Vision:M over the iPod.
Where to buy
Apple iPod (fifth-generation update, 30GB, white):
$399.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazon.com Marketplace
|
$399.99 | Yes |
|
%20user%20review%20and%20rating%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/apple-ipod-fifth-generation/4864-6490_7-32069574-1.html){kind=small}