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ATPM 7.12
December 2001

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Review: iPod

by Daniel Chvatik, dchvatik@atpm.com

excellent

Developer: Apple Computer

Price: $399

Requirements: Mac with built-in FireWire port, Mac OS X 10.1 or Mac OS 9.2.1

Trial: none

Overview

For a long time, Apple has been focused on the consumer business. In years long past, Apple had a complex line-up of computer models and the accompanying peripherals such as displays, printers, speakers, and a digital camera. Then came the big cut and Apple’s product offerings were limited to a 2 x 2 matrix of computers, plus a mouse, a keyboard, and three display types. Now, led by its “digital hub” strategy, Apple is ready to expand once again into the realm of consumer accessories.

ipod1

iPod in all its glory

Apple chose an MP3 player for its first step as a creator of digital hub solutions. An MP3 player is a little device, not unlike a Discman, that plays digitally stored music files (MP3 files) that can be created (“ripped”) from CDs or downloaded (sometimes illegally) from the Internet. In typical Apple-style, the secret product launch was heavily hyped, and when the public finally laid its eyes on this supposedly “revolutionary” new digital device, many were understandably disappointed. Statements such as “everybody will want one” had led people to expect the impossible. However, unreasonably high expectations do not mean that the iPod is actually bad.

To make sure that there are no misunderstandings: the iPod is not for everyone. Instead, it is geared at a particular segment of the consumer market. But in my opinion, the iPod hits that segment dead on. There are many people who disagree with me, and ultimately it is you, the consumers, who will be casting the final vote.

Installation

I just installed a wireless PC card on a Windows NT machine for a friend this weekend. Now, I can say without hesitation that installing the iPod is a pleasure. It starts by opening the packaging. The iPod is so well packaged, it is delightful to unwrap. Once you remove the outer cardboard, the main box opens up into two halves. One of which contains the iPod, and the other contains the accessories: FireWire cable, power adapter, software CD, headphones, and a quick getting started guide. Everything is done in great taste. My iPod even came pre-charged, so I could jump right in.

ipod2

iPod packaging

There are three ways to install the required iTunes 2 software: you can download it over the Internet (which I had done before buying the iPod, so I was all set). You can install it from the included CD. Or you can install it directly off the iPod when you connect it to your Mac (more on that later). Apple had a little debacle with the online version of the iTunes 2.0.0 installer—under certain circumstances it could delete some of your disks. Luckily, this problem has been fixed in the iTunes 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 installers and does not affect the installers that come with the iPod CD or on the iPod. I won’t be covering the parts of iTunes 2 that do not pertain to the iPod. If you want to know more about iTunes 2, please take a look at our iTunes 2 review

The only disappointing part about the installation process lies with the system requirements. Apple requires you to have the newest version of your OS (either 9.2.1. or X 10.1) running, so getting the iPod to work may force you to update your operating system.

After you are done installing all the software (which may take a bit of time under OS X), you are ready to connect the iPod to your Mac. Whenever you connect the iPod, iTunes will automatically launch. The first time, iTunes will prompt you to name your iPod. From then on, your iPod will recognize this Mac as its home base. Every time you connect the iPod to your computer, it will attempt to synchronize its music collection with your Mac. If you connect your iPod to another Mac, you have a choice of changing your iPod over to that machine. You cannot transfer music this way between two Macs. But don’t worry, I will tell you later about another way to do that.

Operation

I said iTunes will synchronize the music collection between your Mac and the iPod. What that means is that iTunes will try to copy all the songs in your iTunes library to the iPod’s 5 GB hard drive. The next time you connect your iPod, iTunes will update your iPod to reflect the changes made to the iTunes library. What if you don’t want that or if your iTunes library is larger than 5 GB? iTunes offers two alternatives: you can either transfer the songs manually, dragging songs or playlists to the iPod. Or, you can tell it to just synchronize selected playlists. Synchronization is lightning fast, thanks to FireWire. It takes less than a second per song, and about 10 seconds per CD.

The iPod comes with little documentation, just a sheet that explains the most common functions and buttons on the iPod. iTunes has some limited help functionality in its Help menu both for itself and the iPod. It explains how to do some of the things that I mentioned so far. But to save you the trip to the Help menu, here’s how to access some of the important features: In iTunes, select your iPod from the Source list on the left side. A new icon will appear on the bottom right, representing an iPod. That icon opens up the iPod preferences window. Here, you can set the update mode (everything, just selected playlists, or manually), choose whether iTunes should open every time you connect the iPod, and enable/disable FireWire disk use (more on that later).

All the hoopla I described so far of course only has one function: to make sure the iPod can play the music you want, how you want it. After all, that’s what you’d want an MP3 player to do. The iPod works well in that regard. I am no audiophile, so I am not the best judge of the sound quality. All I can say is that it sounds good to me. The headphones seem to be of high quality, if a bit too large for my ears.

In terms of playback, iPod has most things you would want. There are three play modes: by playlist (lists taken from iTunes), by artist name, and by song. I’d like to see an album mode as well in the future. Of course, you can skip back and forth between song and fast-forward both ways within songs. You can repeat one or all songs and enable a random (shuffle) play mode within the three main modes above. Further settings let you turn on backlighting for the LCD for a few seconds after you press a button, set an automatic power off after a few minutes, change the operating language, change contrast, turn off the clicker, set a startup volume, or reset all settings back to factory defaults.

Startup volume sets the iPod’s default volume. Backlighting is bright, almost too bright for my taste. You can use it as a primitive flashlight in very dark environments. Backlighting can be manually toggled by holding the menu button down for a few seconds. Finally, the Clicker refers to a little speaker on the iPod that gives optional acoustic feedback when you press a button.

Controlling the iPod is easy. Except for the Hold switch, which is located on top, all the controls are on the front below the big and easily readable 2" LCD. As a matter of fact, it is easily one of the best displays I have seen in any digital device. The buttons are well placed and feel solid. The thumb wheel in the middle (used to scroll through the list and change the volume) triggers a bit too easily, but other than that the controls are great.

Apple engineers even squeezed in an Easter Egg. Go to the About screen from the main menu and hold the middle (enter) button down for about five seconds. A little game of breakout will pop up that you control via the iPod buttons. Besides triggering the Easter Egg, the About screen also shows you available hard disk space and the number of songs on your iPod.

Reading the comments and other reviews on the Web, it seems some people have trouble finding the power button—because there is none. They probably didn’t have time to read that single documentation sheet. To turn off your iPod, just hold the play button for about five seconds. Press any button (other than Hold) to turn the iPod back on. If you have trouble with your iPod and nothing seems to work, you can try resetting it by holding Menu and Play down simultaneously for 10 seconds to reset the iPod. Resetting shouldn’t affect the data or music on your iPod.

On a sadder note, my iPod broke after a week. It simply wouldn’t turn on, no matter what. Apple’s repair service was excellent, and I had a brand new iPod on my doorstep three days later.

FireWire Disk Use & Battery

One of the coolest features of the iPod, in my opinion, and one I have hinted at before, is the so-called FireWire disk use. Basically, once you connect the iPod to a FireWire-enabled computer with the proper drivers (all FireWire Macs with newer system software), the iPod will show up on the desktop as a hard drive. That way the iPod doubles as a portable Zip disk if the target computer has FireWire as well. Actually, it doubles as almost 50 Zip disks because of the 5 GB hard drive, provided you have no songs on the iPod.

The iPod stores the songs separately from the data, so you don’t have to worry about erasing one when you use the other function. There are some third-party programs available that make the song folder available in the Finder if you want to mess around with the iPod. One reason you may want to do that is so you can play MP3s on your computer directly off the iPod with something other than iTunes. A list of three currently available programs can be found at the end of this article.

Apple itself uses the disk mode by including the iTunes 2 installer on the iPod hard disk (in addition to the install CD). Erasing the installers frees a mere 7.8 MB on the iPod HD—good enough for 1-2 songs. Not really worth it since your iPod can store 1000 songs (4 minutes long on average, at 160 kbps—or about 1300 songs at 128 kbps according to Apple).

The second coolest feature is the iPod’s battery. Now I know, since when are batteries cool? The iPod battery is built into the housing and cannot be exchanged by the user. However it is rechargeable, so you don’t really need to exchange it, ever. According to Apple, a full charge is good enough for about 10 hours of use. I usually had to recharge a bit sooner than that, however I was playing around a lot with the backlight. Apple includes a battery charger with the iPod, but I only tried it once so far because—here it comes—the iPod charges through the FireWire port when it is connected to a computer! That way, loading songs onto the iPod turns into a charging session as well. This feature really saves you a good bit of time and hassle.

How Does It Stack Up?

When Apple released the iPod specifications, some people were immediately skeptical because the iPod uses a hard drive instead of the more common solid-state memory chips used by the majority of MP3 players. Using a hard drive allows you to have much greater memory (5 GB in the iPod) but at the expense of size and HD-related problems. Most of the problems come from the moving parts that make the hard disk work. These parts really don’t take shaking well, so it is risky to jog with a running hard disk in your device.

Apple’s solution to the problem: a huge RAM buffer. A 32 MB memory chip in the player buffers the songs from the hard disk, so the disk can be safely turned off in the mean time. According to Apple, the buffer lasts about 20 minutes. The iPod pre-fetches music for the next 20 minutes and then shuts the hard disk down again. This sounds great in theory, and works well in practice as long as you don’t change songs a lot. I tend to switch songs a lot, which causes a little bit of trouble with the iPod since I usually switch to songs it didn’t cache in the buffer yet. So the iPod needs to spin up the little disk drive, find the song, and load it into memory. That causes a noticeable break for about two seconds, during which the iPod is just silent. I wish it would just continue the old song until it is ready to play the next one. Overall, this is a minor problem though.

I mentioned earlier that the iPod hits its particular market segment dead on. What exactly is that segment? It’s the people who want to have a small MP3 player that they can carry in their pockets that will hold a lot of music. Now, since I am part of that segment, it is hard for me to see why anybody would want to be in any of the other segments—like the people who want to have a big and clunky MP3 player that can hold a lot of music, or those who want to have a small MP3 player that can hold little music. But to be fair, there are reasons not to have an iPod.

The players using other memory standards such as SmartMedia, CompactFlash, and MemoryStick can get a good bit smaller than the iPod. If you compare the iPod to the first few generations of MP3 players in the picture below, it is not much bigger. But it is much bigger than today’s smallest MP3 players. However, their drawback is that they hold very little music (usually 64 to 128 MB, or two to four times the iPod’s buffer alone!). Also, while these players tend to be cheap initially, storage memory prices are still quite steep, so unless you only want to listen to a few songs or like to update them a lot via a slow USB connection, they have little advantage.

ipod3

iPod compared to a credit card, the Rio 500 and 600, and the Pontis SP 600

At the other end of the spectrum are the big MP3 players that hold 20-30 GB. Now that’s massive storage that few people can fill up easily. Also, most of them have USB, so you’ll be sitting there for a few hours uploading music to a large drive. Many cannot double as a portable hard disk, although some can.

At 2.43 by 4.02 by 0.78 inches and 6.5 ounces, I think Apple’s iPod hits the sweetspot between small players and high capacity. Some people think it misses both because it’s too big to be small and 5 GB is not that much compared to the 20 GB players available today for much less than $400.

I think the iPod is small enough to fit in a pocket, and 5 GB is enough to hold all the music I want for a good period of time. Once you have more than 1300 files in a player, they become hard to manage without a keyboard or a more advanced user interface than what’s available in a small digital device.

Apple’s player is a bit expensive, but it is priced similarly to portable FireWire hard drives its size without an MP3 player function! Beyond that, it has an excellent LCD and comes in a well-done package with some really smart features. The design is excellent, although it tends to scratch easily if you are not careful and it catches your finger prints on its shiny surface.

Some people complain about the lack of a recording feature, radio function, or built-in equalizer. These features would certainly be nice, but I don’t really miss them that much in day-to-day use. Instead, Apple decided to built just an MP3 player, but an excellent one. Windows users are out of luck for now since the iPod only works on a Mac. However, software company Mediafour is working on a Windows client for iPod, to be released early next year.

The iPod may not be for everyone, but I think a lot of people will find one under their Christmas tree this year.

Quick Feature Summary

Small (2.43 by 4.02 by 0.78 inches; 6.5 ounces) MP3 player and portable FireWire hard drive with high capacity (5 GB). Stores up to 1,000 songs. Rechargable battery lasts up to 10 hours. Offers playlists (via iTunes), shuffle and repeat modes. Supports multiple languages (English, French, German, and Japanese, with support for native ID3 tags). 20-minute skip protection thanks to 32 MB RAM buffer. 2" back-lit LCD (160 x 128 pixel resoltion).

Strengths

  • Relatively small
  • Large capacity
  • Includes rechargable battery
  • Fast FireWire connection and auto-update
  • Large, back-lit high-quality LCD

Weaknesses

  • Somewhat pricey
  • Lacks a few marginal features
  • Requires newest system software to be installed
  • Switching songs sometimes causes delays

Related Links

About iPod

Third party iPod software

appleCopyright © 2001 Daniel Chvatik, dchvatik@atpm.com. Reviewing in ATPM is open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us at reviews@atpm.com.

Reader Comments (76)

ManfredV · December 6, 2001 - 08:14 EST #1
A key feature that Apple missed that would have made this a must-have product for me would be the ability to download pictures from my digital camera to the hard drive.
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · December 7, 2001 - 00:46 EST #2
Wow, that sounds like a great idea. When the iPod was first introduced, I had been commenting to other staffers the things I thought could have been included to make it a really killer product. I agreed with the consensus, however, that the kinds of enhancements I was going on about really would have boosted the cost even higher, though I didn't think so at first. Your feature idea seems like it would've required absolutely nothing more than an extra bit of software code in the iPod. The only thing I'm thinking is: have all the mainstream cameras standardized on a transmission protocol of moving images from the camera (or, rather, the card currently in the camera) to a computer? Don't many of them still hang on a USB interface?
Fabian H. · December 23, 2001 - 13:56 EST #3
I am a proud owner of the new iPod and am pleased to say that it is quite brilliant. Unfortunately, there are also cons to it. One thing I would have definitely added is an equalizer to change treble and bass.
Ellyn Ritterskamp (ATPM Staff) · December 27, 2001 - 14:01 EST #4
Good news: we don't have to upgrade from OS 9.1. I just took my shiny new iPod out of the box 20 minutes ago and am ready to rock! iTunes 2 works OK with OS 9.1. I transferred 199 songs in about 3 minutes, with room for lots more after I get them into MP3 format. It really IS that cool. I think the trick on equalizer settings is to use iTunes 2 to adjust them before transferring them to the player.
Andrew Griscti · July 2, 2005 - 19:35 EST #5
I accidently chose the language to chinese instead of english, i tried resetting it, but the language chooser didn't come up. I have 2000 songs on my ipod and i really don't want to loose them, if someone knows how to chnage the langueage without loosing the songs, pls email me on

[email protected]
ATPM Staff · July 2, 2005 - 19:48 EST #6
According to this Apple support page, you can perform a hard reset on an iPod without losing the music, though you may lose certain personal settings as well as resetting the language.
Elizabeth McKinney · August 16, 2005 - 21:57 EST #7
HELP!
Connected my new i-pod mini via usb cable before I realized they wanted me to install the software first! Have I ruined it? I'm assuming my download to the hard drive was where I was supposed to put it!!
Thanks,
Technically Challenged
mary-kate lycnh · August 23, 2005 - 15:14 EST #8
UgHH! im very upset! my ipod icon on my computer has stopped popping up so now i can not add any new music tp my ipod. it is very strange and i dont know how to fix it
nicole · August 28, 2005 - 23:17 EST #9
my ipod is in chinese i just got it and now i cannot get it back to english becuase i dont no how can someone help me and tell me what to click because i cannot read chinese thanls
ATPM Staff · August 29, 2005 - 00:06 EST #10
Mary-Kate and Nicole - a casual search of Apple's Support Site can yield a surprising number of answers to such questions. Try this explanation of either resetting an iPod or changing the language. (This page might be a better help for Andrew, above, too.)

Elizabeth - you're probably fine. Worst case scenario, just perform a hard reset of our iPod (see the link in the prior comment) and start over.
Ashley · September 8, 2005 - 17:33 EST #11
My ipod is like in chinese! How do i change it to English?
darren burton · September 8, 2005 - 18:54 EST #12
Got 60GB ipod and before I've even loaded any songs 39GB is used? only 16GB available!
ATPM Staff · September 8, 2005 - 20:09 EST #13
Ashley - look up. Your question has already been answered.

Darren - is it brand new? You could always use iTunes to enable disk mode and check to see of other files are on it, but if you bought it brand new, you should have full capacity. If it appears empty, you'd best go back to a store to exchange it.
mark rackow · October 30, 2005 - 13:45 EST #14
Select your language.
If your iPod has a monochrome display (black and white):
Scroll to the third menu item in the screen and press the Center (Select) button. This takes you to the Settings menu.
Scroll down to the last menu option but don't select it; in English, this is the "Reset All Settings" option.
Scroll up to the third menu item from the bottom one. This should be Language.
Press the Center button to select Language.
Select your preferred language from the list.

If you have an iPod with a color display:
Scroll to the fourth menu item in the screen and press the Center (Select) button. This takes you to the Settings menu.
Scroll down to the last menu option but don't select it; in English, this is the "Reset All Settings" option.
Scroll up to the third menu item from the bottom one. This should be Language.
Press the Center button to select Language.
Select your preferred language from the list.
callum hirst · November 4, 2005 - 07:00 EST #15
im only getting a few minutes music b4 my battery runs ouy even though i have only had afew weeks and i have to charge it all the time. canyou tell me the correct way to switch it off incase im not doing it right.
ATPM Staff · November 4, 2005 - 09:27 EST #16
Callum - as long as music is not playing, all iPods will automatically shut off after a minute or two. If you feel the battery is defective for such a new product, you should contact Apple support.
chris arvier · November 20, 2005 - 13:55 EST #17
when i first got my iPod I set everything up on my parents computer. Now I have my own laptop and they want me to take all my songs off their computer because it uses up too much space. Ive downloaded iTunes off the internet onto my new computer but I cant work out how to transfer all my songs from my parents computer to mine. Can you help me on this?
ATPM Staff · November 20, 2005 - 14:46 EST #18
Chris - first, you need to get all your music from one computer to another. You can use iTunes to burn data (not audio) CDs or DVDs. You can set this burning type in iTunes preferences. Then, put the disc in the second computer and drag the folders of music to the iTunes playlist window. Unless you've changed preferences, iTunes will copy the music from your CD or DVD to the iTunes library. When you're done, you can either keep the discs as a backup, or discard them.
chris arvier · November 20, 2005 - 17:39 EST #19
thanks for the quick reply!!
i will recomend you to others
Sam harrison · November 21, 2005 - 18:03 EST #20
hi umm does it matter if you unplug your iPod from the computer wen it says do not disconnect? Mine always says that even when its finished transfering songs and i dont know what to do
ATPM Staff · November 21, 2005 - 20:13 EST #21
Sam - yes, it does matter. You should unmount the iPod before disconnecting it. This Apple Info page describes what you should do.
Paula · November 23, 2005 - 03:22 EST #22
If the ipod software was originally installed onto my pc in English, then when an update was done - it changed the language of the software to Japanese, how do I change it back to English??

(I would like to do this without losing my all my songs on the ipod software.) I thought about re-installing ipod software into my computer, but then I would lose all my songs.

I am having an enormous amount of difficulty trying to manage my music as I do not read Japanese. Thanks.
Daniel McPherson · November 30, 2005 - 06:02 EST #23
I'm having major problems with my ipod mini. I let it sit and charge for a whole day and then when I go to play a song they just skip onto the next song and the next until after 10 seconds or so the battery dies again and shuts off. Is there any advice you can give me on how to fix this problem? Thanks.
James · November 30, 2005 - 09:21 EST #24
can a 30gb color ipod hold 15,000 songs if no video or pictures?
ATPM Staff · November 30, 2005 - 09:44 EST #25
Daniel - http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/

James - no, that's the 60gb capacity. The 30gb capacity is roughly 7,500.
James · December 1, 2005 - 10:00 EST #26
Then how does a Dell 30Gb hold 15,000 songs?
ATPM Staff · December 1, 2005 - 23:15 EST #27
James - higher compression—which translates to lower quality. Granted, many people can't tell the difference, but many can.
Amy · December 10, 2005 - 13:49 EST #28
I bought my 30gb photo ipod in june, and now several things stopped working. The scroll feature only works sometimes, the ipod won't turn off at other times, and strangely, the ipod "skips" while playing songs - this is a new problem for songs that were fine in the past. Radio Shack has offered to replace it for me if I can find the original packaging (I threw it out months ago). Any ideas where I can find/buy just packaging for an ipod?
ATPM Staff · December 10, 2005 - 23:27 EST #29
Amy - not likely. The moral of the story is, always best to keep packaging for something that you may have even the remotest need to return/exchange—at least until the warranty is out.

Try taking it to an Apple store. If you can satisfy them that it is defective, they may be able to help.
colin randall · December 18, 2005 - 16:45 EST #30
help!
my ipod has hung! i can't seem to be able to turn it off at all...i have tried all the usual restarts and reseting but nothing seems to work! the sceen is perminantly illuminated and none of the buttons are responding...will i have to wait for the battery to run out or is there another way (yes i have checked the hold switch)or is it ubfixable?
alyssa · December 21, 2005 - 17:10 EST #31
After a year of having my mini ipod, it suddenly lost all its memory. I took in my broken ipod and they replaced it with a brand new one a few days ago and already i am having problems. Whenever i put my ipod onto my speakers, it wont turn off, but when its not on my speakers it does turn off. How can i fix this?
Hubert Brown · December 23, 2005 - 10:56 EST #32
I have an Ipod 30 GB and I plugged it in and it always only says Do not Disconnect. What do I do? I only have a 1.0 USB. How much slower is it then a 2.0 and what do i to get songs on it?
ATPM Staff · December 23, 2005 - 13:18 EST #33
Hubert - if you had read the iPod user manual, you'd have discovered that when your iPod says "Do Not Disconnect," it means the computer is seeing it as a mounted volume, just like any other removable media. You should eject it by dragging it's desktop icon to the trash (or, if you are on a PC, eject it via the appropriate menu in your file browser window). iTunes can also eject it if you click the small, grey, round eject button next to your iPod item in the left-side pane.

ATPM generally tries to not be a "we'll Google it for you" service, so for detailed information, we recommend making use of those search engines for USB information. Regardless, I easily found a web page that stated the following about the speed of USB 2.0:

"You can transfer data between the computer and peripherals 40 times faster than original USB. Hi-Speed USB technology offers transfer rates up to 480Mbps (megabits per second) compared to USB 1.1 devices, which transfer at speeds of 12Mbps. For example, it would take 1.1 minutes to download a 100 MB file with USB 1.1 devices in a sustained, optimal condition, while with USB 2.0 it only takes 1.6 seconds to transfer the same file."
James · December 24, 2005 - 00:02 EST #34
Will my Ipod work with a USB 1.1 or do I have to have a 2.0?
ATPM Staff · December 24, 2005 - 00:05 EST #35
James - it's work just fine. It'll just be slow in transferring songs. Very slow.

Adding a USB 2.0 card is very cheap and not too awful if, instead, you have a laptop and have to add it via the PC Slot.
James · December 24, 2005 - 11:01 EST #36
How slow will it be? More than a day?
ATPM Staff · December 24, 2005 - 20:55 EST #37
James - no, not an entire day, but the total time will depend on how many songs you are transferring. As an example, typical compressed songs are approximately 1 megabyte per minute. As stated above, it will take just a little over one minute to transfer 100 megabytes. So if you had one full gigabyte of music, it might take about 11 minutes. Continuing the multiplication, a 30 gb iPod might take approximately 5.5 hours if you were completely filling it up. On the other hand, with USB 2.0, filling that 30 gb iPod would only take about 8 minutes!
Porscha · December 31, 2005 - 19:16 EST #38
I recently bought an ipod video and i was wondering what the white plastic piece is for? i thought it was a holder but my ipod wont stand up in it. And i also wanted to know what the small velcro circles are for that were also included. Thanx!!
ATPM Staff · January 1, 2006 - 14:04 EST #39
Porscha - the plastic piece is the adapter that lets your particular iPod fit Apple's Dock which is sold separately. The plastic adapter fits into the Dock and provides the proper size shape to fit your iPod into. This is because there are 3-4 different sized iPods, accounting for different capacities and whether it's a full-sized iPod or an iPod nano.

Sorry, I don't know what the velcro circles are for. I'll keep a look out to see if I can find out.
ATPM Staff · January 1, 2006 - 15:59 EST #40
Update on the circles—I've come to believe what you found is actually not velcro, rather small pieces of black foam which can fit over the earbuds to soften them.
myself · January 4, 2006 - 22:01 EST #41
Go to the main menu—Disonnect your iPod from your computer, then press the Menu button until the menu title says "iPod," regardless of the language displayed. This means you are at the main menu.

Select your language.
If your iPod has a monochrome display (black and white):
Scroll to the third menu item in the screen and press the Center (Select) button. This takes you to the Settings menu.
Scroll down to the last menu option but don't select it; in English, this is the "Reset All Settings" option.
Scroll up to the third menu item from the bottom one. This should be Language.
Press the Center button to select Language.
Select your preferred language from the list.
Cate · January 15, 2006 - 00:24 EST #42
I bought a 30GB ipod today and after i installed the software CD onto my computer suddenly my wireless internet was disabled! This had never happened before and I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the CD software?
Belle · January 21, 2006 - 14:39 EST #43
I have about 300 pics in my 60GB Video IPOD is their any way to transfer those pics back to my computer so that I can print them out?
ATPM Staff · January 21, 2006 - 23:29 EST #44
Belle - how did you get the pictures on your iPod in the first place? Did you copy them to the iPod from your computer then delete them from the computer.

Bad idea.

Nevertheless, you should be able to get them back. Make sure the iPod had disk mode enabled (you can set it in iTunes preferences while the iPod is connected to the computer). Once enabled, the iPod will mount just like another hard drive and you can browse folders and copy out your pictures.
Elise Schmidt · February 4, 2006 - 21:47 EST #45
I have an ipod video (60GB) and I wondered if there was any way to transfer songs to the ipod from itunes. THe songs already on my ipod are not in my itunes library so i turned off autosync so that i wouldn't lose any songs, but i don't know how to transfer my new songs that i added to the library to the ipod. Any suggestions?
ATPM Staff · February 5, 2006 - 00:07 EST #46
Elise - just visit VersionTracker.com or MacUpdate.com and do a search for keywords such as transfer from iPod and you're sure to turn up plenty of utilities to accomplish this.
Carlos Gutierrez · February 16, 2006 - 00:26 EST #47
I have a third generation 10G iPod, when I recharge it it makes a humming sound, and sometimes it gets very hot. Can someone help me as how to fix this, or know why this is happening. I have all the iPods that have come out, but my favorite is my third generation one that is the one the with the four buttons between the screen and the volume adjuster. Help me please.
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · February 16, 2006 - 00:49 EST #48
Carlos - I don't know to what degree yours is exhibiting those symptoms, but mine has a very faint hum and gets a bit warm, too. I've never perceived it as a problem, though.

You may wish to search through ipodlounge.com for some more experienced help.
Adrian Camacho · May 9, 2006 - 16:27 EST #49
I have the oldest iPod 10G. Although the screen is black and white, it has an option that says "Photo import" However, i've been trying to add a photo many ways but it doesn't work. I wonder i it's able to display photos, if not. Why does it have this option...

I appreciate your help...
Chris Lawson (ATPM Staff) · May 9, 2006 - 20:40 EST #50
Adrian, I suspect what you've discovered there is a bug in the latest first-gen firmware.

cl
Korey · May 10, 2006 - 19:07 EST #51
My iPod 3rd generation 10gb also has this "photo import" option. It had this straight out of the box, so I dont think its a software update bug. There is a piece you can buy and put your digital cameras memory card into it and it transfers the pics off of the card to the ipod. Is that what this option is for you think?

Thanks
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · May 10, 2006 - 20:45 EST #52
Korey - the key difference is that your iPod is third generation with a dock connector. Even though it was straight out of the box, Apple may have pre-updated the firmware in the last few that were sold to already have the photo import function—if it wasn't there already. If you check the original comment, the reader implied (though didn't specifically say) he had a first generation iPod. But whether it was first or second, it had a standard 6-pin firewire jack and not a dock connector, and this is what is puzzling as to why this iPod has the photo import function when ever photo transfer peripheral we're aware of uses the dock connector.
Don Page · June 7, 2006 - 08:38 EST #53
Have an Ipod Mini, as someone said in an earlier post, There is not much in the way of directions with these units, I'm having a problem getting sound thru to my speakers, sound works fine with ear buds but when I hook up my logitech speakers no sound, am I missing something in the menu
ATPM Staff · June 7, 2006 - 11:05 EST #54
Don - there's nothing in the menus to change the type of sound that comes out of the iPod. If you're getting sound to a pair of headphones, but not to speakers, then something is amiss with the speakers. The iPod has enough amplification to drive headphones, but might not be powerful enough if your speakers are not self-powered/amplified. I've seen Logitech speakers that do not require A/C power, therefore they rely on the device they're plugged into for amplification.
Amado Reyes · June 7, 2006 - 18:33 EST #55
I have just updated my ipod software on my mac as requested by Apple. However, when my daughter plugged in her mini ipod to add/update her song list, it wiped the contents. As you can imagine she was not very pleased at all. Has anyone know what caused this to happen?
ATPM Staff · June 7, 2006 - 19:26 EST #56
Amado - sounds like perhaps your daughter's iPod was already synced to a different library and you plugged it in to sync to another library. An iPod can only sync to one iTunes library at a time. The library you sync to will replace the one previously on the iPod, but you should get a warning before that happens.

The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps she has the auto-fill feature turned on. In this case, iTunes would randomize a batch of songs and use them to replace the songs previously on the iPod.
emma · September 9, 2006 - 16:04 EST #57
i have a 30gb video ipod. it is loaded on my computer with my library. i will soon be getting a new computer, but i still want to use my ipod on it. how can i transfer my library to the new computer without re-ripping all the cds?
ATPM Staff · September 10, 2006 - 15:09 EST #58
Emma - the absolute simplest way will be to use the migration assistant that comes with the new computer. This tool will just about completely set up your new computer to the state of your old one, copying iTunes, documents, pictures, applications, etc.

But if you only want to deal with iTunes and start fresh with the other things, just go a bit of Google searching for moving an iTunes library to a new computer. You'll find plenty of links with instructions. Here's just one.
Amanda Davis · September 20, 2006 - 11:16 EST #59
Is there any way to stop an older cd from messing up on your iPod after you load it on to iTunes?
ATPM Staff · September 20, 2006 - 12:07 EST #60
Amanda - you're going to need to be more specific. It would help if you described exactly what was wrong. Do songs from this CD play poorly on both your iPod and in iTunes? Try going into the iTunes preferences to the Advanced section's "Importing" tab and turn on the "Use error correction" to see if that solves your problem. Be sure to turn it back off after you're done.
Carissa Parvin · December 25, 2006 - 12:27 EST #61
I'm having difficulty finding a system for the iPod that I can use which either helps me transfer music from my iTunes to a different iPod or at least copies my music from my iTunes to my PC so that way it's store on my computer. My reasons is because I just got video iPod (the one that holds about 74 GB) and I want to take my music from my iTunes that I used my mini iPod for, but I'm afraid that it will erase all 1050 of my songs in my iTunes Library. What action should I take? Your help would be much appreciated!
ATPM Staff · December 25, 2006 - 21:59 EST #62
Carissa - normally, an iPod simply acts as a mirror of your iTunes library and won't erase your songs on your computer. If you haven't changed your computer and only have a new iPod, you can simply attach the new one and sync it as normal. In fact, you can use both iPods if you want to.
Zara M · February 18, 2007 - 07:01 EST #63
I bought a few years back the 20GB white i-pod, I used this with my G4 powerbook to hold all the songs, The hard drive on my G4 completely crashed and I had to start from the beggining again, So I now have my old 20GB i-pod with over 4000 songs on it. I was told about senuti which I downloaded so I can put all the songs onto my i-tunes on my lap top, when I do this is says I have the older version of itunes and do I want to upload the newer verison! If I upload a new version onto my i-pod, will I loose all my songs? whats the best thing I can do??
Thanks Zara
ATPM Staff · February 18, 2007 - 09:47 EST #64
Zara - I'm not sure if anyone on ATPM staff has any experience with the Senuti app that you mentioned. It might be best if you contacted the Senuti developers with this question. http://www.fadingred.org/trac/senuti/wiki/Contact

There are also other utilities you could try: http://macs.about.com/od/ipod/a/copy_from_ipod.htm
kevin s. · June 8, 2007 - 13:41 EST #65
My 60 gig ipod video won't turn off. It works fine and I can recharge it using the docking station but if it's disconnected from the station it will stay on until the battery is deplenished. It also freezes every once in awhile but this is alleviated by holding down the 2 buttons to reset it. Also any recommendations for software to transfer music/videos from an ipod to a computer. TIA.
Tami · July 7, 2007 - 15:25 EST #66
IPOD in Chinese....how do I get it back to english??? HELP FAST...Party starting soon.
Peggy-Sue · December 5, 2007 - 00:31 EST #67
ok now. i unplugged my ipod before it told me to. now the screen on my ipod will not change and if i press any of the buttons nothing happens. i'm very nervous.
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · December 5, 2007 - 01:08 EST #68
Peggy: try resetting it. If you don't know how, visit http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705 and find your model iPod, then follow the instructions.
Chabbyra Flortonilley · December 27, 2007 - 12:44 EST #69
i got this ipod nano third generation and there's a white plastic piece in it! does anyone know what that's for?
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · December 27, 2007 - 13:58 EST #70
Chabbyra - the paperwork that came with your iPod would tell you for certain, but you're probably referring to the Universal Dock Adapter piece. This enables Apple to only have to make one Dock, and the adapter allows the various iPods (except the Shuffle, which does use a different Dock) to fit.
Dan Sheahan · March 1, 2008 - 00:08 EST #71
Accidentently set my ipod to Japanese or Chinese. Need to return it to English.Help
ATPM Staff · March 1, 2008 - 20:08 EST #72
Dan - hopefully, you'll see this message…you did not enter a complete e-mail address in the form, so the checkbox you enabled to notify of a new comment has no way of getting to you.

1) Click the Menu button until you notice you're not backing up any more levels.

2) Scroll down to the very bottom of the menu, then two items up from the bottom. That should be two Asian characters with a hierarchical menu item to the right. Click the middle button to go into that menu.

3) Repeat on the ensuing menu. Go all the way to the bottom, then two items up. Enter that menu.

4) You should then see all the language options and can choose the one you want.
Mandy · January 31, 2009 - 15:32 EST #73
my i pod was plugged in and the circuit blew so my i pod would not turn on anymore. I did the reset with the middle and menu button. and plugged it into my computer and after a few seconds it deleted all my songs and now i cannot transfer any songs back onto it. what do i do?
ATPM Staff · January 31, 2009 - 17:58 EST #74
Mandy - call Apple support.
casey · June 16, 2009 - 06:53 EST #75
Okay so my 8g ipod chromatic works fine, and it worked fine for ages on my logitec ipod speakers.
but i hadnt used it for maybe a month, then the other day i plugged the ipod in to the speakers and now my ipod screen freezes, sometimes for a few seconds and sometimes until i take it off the speakers.

im not sure if its the right powercord for the speakers to the wall, i may have misplaced it if that affects it?

thanks.
ATPM Staff · June 16, 2009 - 10:25 EST #76
Casey - we suggest the forums at ilounge.com for troubleshooting.

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