A delight for the ears. A feast for the eyes. Though it’s no bigger than a pack of playing cards and weighs in at just over 6 ounces, iPod Photo delivers a one-two sensory punch. Letting you carry an entire library of your favorite music — up to 15,000 songs — or enough photos — as many as 25,000 — to fill nearly 200 slide trays or cover nearly 5,000 square feet of wall space. Got a really big den?
The newest member of the iPod family, iPod Photo comes in two sizes: a 40GB model, available for $499, and a capacious 60GB model that sells for $599. Both feature a razor sharp LCD display that lets you see your photos in vivid color — 65,536 colors, to be exact. And with its built-in backlighting, you’ll be able to admire those photos indoors or out.
Take Your Photos for a Spin
Like its famous siblings, iPod Photo features the touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that’s the envy of the industry. You’ll use it to navigate iPod Photo’s new menu. Now in living color, its easier to read than ever. That’s thanks in part to the clarity of the display — it offers 220x176-pixel resolution — and in part to the new Myriad typeface. Spin the wheel to Music, and you can scroll effortlessly through dozens of playlists, hundreds of albums or thousand of songs.
Or highlight Photos. iPod Photo displays 25 full-color thumbnails at a time. And you can scroll through them the same way you scroll through song titles. Quickly. Just spin the wheel to see more. And when you see a photo you’d like displayed all by its lonesome, just click the center button and voila. No one will have to say “cheese” as long as you have iPod Photo around. Whether you’re listening to tunes or checking out photos, you’re sure to be all smiles.
Get Brownie Points for Sharing
If you’d like everyone else to smile right along with you, iPod Photo makes it easy. Sure, you could let them take the Click Wheel for a spin themselves, but here’s a way to get extra points for style. Use the included AV cable to connect iPod Photo to a projector or TV. You can mesmerize friends and family with a glorious multimedia experience, offering them a breathtaking slideshow accompanied by the music you already have on your iPod Photo. Of course, you get to choose the songs, albums or playlists.
iTunes 4.7: Your Photo Passport
Wondering how you’re going to get all your digital photographs into iPod Photo? iTunes 4.7. The new version lets you import your images directly into iPod Photo from a folder on the hard drive of your Mac or PC. Spent time organizing your photos using iPhoto on a Mac or either Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 on a PC? iTunes 4.7 rewards your diligence by importing the albums you’ve created in iPhoto or collections created in Album or Elements. You’ll be able to choose them from the Photos menu on iPod Photo.
Wait, there’s more. iPod Photo features even more robust Auto-Sync capabilities. Now, in addition to offering the industry’s best music syncing, iTunes offers stellar photo syncing, as well. Update your photo collection by adding images or creating new albums, and the next time you connect iPod Photo to your Mac or PC using the included FireWire or USB 2.0 cables, iTunes 4.7 will automatically synchronize your photo collection. And did we mention that iTunes 4.7 also autosyncs Album Art? It’s true. The Album Art downloaded when you purchase music from the iTunes Music Store is transferred to iPod Photo along with the music. So while iPod Photo plays your tunes, you can enjoy the Album Art — in color, of course — on the Now Playing screen.
Enjoy Improved Battery Life
Whether you’re on a transcontinental flight or an extra long hike, if you plan to listen to music for hours and hours, iPod Photo has you covered. Fully charged, it lets you enjoy up to 15 hours of continuous music; or up to 5 hours of continuous slideshows with music.(2) Use the FireWire or USB 2.0 cables to quickly charge the batteries. Or use the iPod Photo Dock that comes with both 40GB and 60GB models.
- Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding; photo capacity is based on iPod-viewable photos transferred from iTunes.
- Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.
(Taken directly from www.apple.com/ipodphoto)
Personally..I don't really see the need to spend an extra $600 to see my images on a two inch screen.
This product would've been far more effective if they had've included the media reader in the basic design of it, that way images could be directly transfered. Imagine always having 60 gigs of memory in your pocket.
I think the initial idea was a good one, but it could've been developed a lot more before it's early release.
However, if you'd still like to read more:
-http://playlistmag.com/features/2004/10/ipodphotofirst/index.php
-http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0410photoipod.html
-http://www.dpreview.com/news/0410/04102604appleipodphoto.asp
October 30th, 2004 at 4:14 pm
Wow, I thought that Brandon had received a chunk of cash from Apple for a sec there.
Apple, you listening? Give Brandon a chunk of cash.
October 30th, 2004 at 4:37 pm
I agree.. without a media reader it's just a little worthless, especially for that price. Though I'm sure its lack of any real value to a digital photographer will not hamper its sales! (And I admit I'm a Mac junkie and my initial reaction was... I want that...I need that! Then I realized it had no useful features... so it's off to buy new lenses instead!).
October 30th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
I don't see the point of this. The extra 20gigs might attract some people but you can store images just as easily on the normal ipods, I don't really value viewing them on the screen, it has less pixels than most camera screens.
It's probably worth it if you're interested in spontaneous presentations but as a storage device stick with the original and save money, or better still go for one of the products that can read from a CF card.
October 30th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
Hrmm... another Apple product... meaning it's expensive/overpriced, has a battery that will die pretty soon, and technology that sucks but everyone loves because it's a social status symbol. Hooray!
What a horrible ripoff, and a stupid idea. If you want to store and see your photographs on a screen, it's called a hard drive. 40GB HD's cost less than $80 nowadays...
October 30th, 2004 at 5:32 pm
to be honest, if it supported RAW viewing id seriously concider it, just because their intigration between your car and PC is pretty darn good and they are fun as hell. But Apple has let me down time and time again with poor card reading speed and nothing but lies on their battery life esp when it comes to data transfer. Not to mention the price is a killer, you can get a lot more from a real media storage device. But hey, the ipod looks cool. Another year I tell apple, "not this year" I guess...
October 30th, 2004 at 5:50 pm
Even with a built in media reader the ipod photo still lacks the power to quickly display high res images; and with one of the media readers that are bound to come out attached the battery will take a fair knock because of the way the ipod works- you'll be able to pull off 2 512mb cards max without listening to music.
The ipod is still an excellent piece of kit in terms of listening to music, the new one however is just an ipod with a colour screen- its not made for photographers; save your cash.
October 30th, 2004 at 6:32 pm
Hah! Davin, if Apple did give me a chunk of cash, they'd probably want a refund. These comments don't seem like ringing endorsements. Ouch.
Me personally... I'll hold off on making a judgment on the device, until I've actually played with one.
October 30th, 2004 at 7:15 pm
A cheaper alternative i'm considering and seeing more and more people using is to buy a case for a portable normal hard drive. It's not as miniturised but you can just put any 2.5 hard drive in and some of the cases have built in software to play MP3s off the drive as well as card readers for compact flash cards.
It's a bit chunkier than an ipod but for pure storage it's an easy solution.
http://www.vosonic.co.uk have some examples.
October 30th, 2004 at 7:53 pm
~nice advertisement...~
October 30th, 2004 at 10:58 pm
maybe next time just link to apple's site, eh?
also, this is just a gallery device for regular (rich) people, not photographers. when you sync it with the software, it downsamples everything to 240x160. it's not supposed to compete with "imagetank" type devices.
October 30th, 2004 at 11:06 pm
I would personally go with the Archos Gmini 400 (http://www.archos.com/products/overview/gmini_400.html ). It has a compact flash slot, 20 gigs, and you can watch videos on it. It also costs about $340 and is smaller than the iPod
October 31st, 2004 at 1:13 am
sorry, justin, i thought this would be easier than directing everyone away from the site.
October 31st, 2004 at 3:15 am
I just got one yesterday and it is my favorite toy in the entire world. But if I had purchased it primarily as a photography accessory, I'd be disappointed. The photo functions on it are handy for me, but are not worth $600. Luckily, I did not get it for that reason. As a music player alone, it is worth every penny and then some. Nothing even comes close. It holds so much music that it could play continuously for over two months without reapeating anything; one of those rare devices which reminds you that you are living in "the future." Literally science fiction in your hand, and it's beautiful too.
There is nothing I own which I love more. Bravo Apple.
October 31st, 2004 at 4:24 am
I think I like to keep my music and photos separate, one day there will be one small device that does everything for us, how dull
October 31st, 2004 at 5:24 am
Wow, after reading some of the comments I've changed my mind about getting this. I'll buy one of the old ones just for the music then. Thanks a bunch!
October 31st, 2004 at 11:26 am
I thought I wanted one ... but I am thinking it over. There are plenty of devices out there that do the same thing for a much reduced price and have the functionality that a photographer would want. I do beleive that A LOT of purchasers are hunb up on the the "Apple Status Symbol"! It is like buying a $50,000 BMW SUV 4X4 that only goes to the grocery store ... why buy it if you don't use it?
October 31st, 2004 at 11:37 am
I've played with one at the local Apple Store, and wasn't very impressed; the image preview isn't much better than viewing it on my camera's LCD, and quite a bit slower. I love Apple and never go out of doors without my 'pod, but for any remotely serious photo storage and display usage, this has a long way to go.
October 31st, 2004 at 1:50 pm
I like Jessyel, but he's so wrong here. People who buy Apple products are not about status, we just care about great design and will pay a premium for it. Not that Apple's products are terribly expensive. Yeah, the 60gb iPod Photo that does your dishes is $600, but you can get other iPods for half that. My previous 10gb iPod is now two years old and the battery is fine, and I used it every single day (yes dph, everyday). The wildest innacuracy Jessyel stated is that the technology sucks. Um Jess, Apple=Unix. You must mean that unsecure copycat operating system. Now THAT technology sucks.
October 31st, 2004 at 3:17 pm
iPods are a ripoff. What kind of product dies after only 30-40 charges? Apple products ARE overpriced and most everyone here knows it. Why the hell would you pay more for design if it weren't a status symbol?
I care more about what's inside than the outside Joe. Why the hell would I want to pay MORE for a PC to look pretty? I care more about performance than the exterior. This is not a car (which too can be status symbols)... I have no one to impress with looks. People buy this crap to make them look cool, and most everyone does this. Believe me, most people here in college don't know the technology, they just know it's Apple and they'll look 'cool'.
I do admit my 'technology sucks' is a little harsh. Apple did come up with the G5 and iTunes. They're amazing in the DV/3D fields. Other than that, they've got a while. Let me ask you this... If iPods were ugly on the outside, do you really think they'd be as big as they are?
October 31st, 2004 at 3:18 pm
Oy, I can't believe I just got involved in a Mac vs. the world argument. Let's hope this one ends here eh?
October 31st, 2004 at 4:26 pm
I must admit, I'm a bit of a mac spokesman myself. Personally, it's not about the looks on my end..I'm a big advocate for OSX. I've had my Powerbook for almost a year, and I've had less than a dozen popups. I've never had virus problems, or a system crash either. I used to have to reformat windows every couple months when i had a PC.
In my experience, PC products have not once outlived any mac product that I've ever purchased- even in battery life. Maybe I'm just lucky?
Not to mention, I buy ALL my electronics on eBay. So, money isn't really a big issue. I've never gotten anything crappy there, either.
October 31st, 2004 at 4:28 pm
I forgot to mention though, I totally agree with the fact that mac can become mainstream for the girls in fluffy skirts.
However, if you know how to use them, they are quality products.
Just my two cents, I'm not trying to bash PCs by any means. I still use one at work- I just use my mac for play.
October 31st, 2004 at 5:21 pm
not wanting to further this... I own both macs and PCs and use each where I find the advantage of the system to be, but the one thing I don't understand is what some people are doing with their PCs that they are constantly crashing and having to reformat them. I'm not a techy kind of guy but our PCs have about as many problems as the Macs. We have an XP machine that's been running for over a year now without ever being turned off (acts as a file/media sever).
I don't want to suggest that some people are doing weird things with their PCs to make them crash all the time, but, as long as you have a half decent anti-virus, in my experience PCs and Macs are about as reliable as each other.
*firmly sitting on the fence*
October 31st, 2004 at 6:37 pm
Design is not about decoration Jessyel. Design is about creating the perfect form to fulfill a function. When done correctly, the results are usually attractive but that's a side-effect. Apple succeedes wildly at this with almost everything they do, especially the iPod.
I've had a 10gb iPod since Spring of 2002. I've used it everyday and the battery still holds a 5 hour charge. But more than that, it completely changed the way I approach listening to music. A rip off? You're smoking something, man.
October 31st, 2004 at 7:19 pm
PCs suck - Macs rule
The End
October 31st, 2004 at 7:20 pm
Fine... Apple is the greatest company EVER. Let's drop this. It's a stupid conversation I should have never been involved in. What am I smoking? Good Lord...
October 31st, 2004 at 7:48 pm
Arguing Mac vs PC is like running on a treadmill. There's no real finish line, you just stop when you get tired. Still, its entertaining to watch.
October 31st, 2004 at 8:09 pm
Jessyel, come on, do you even own an iPod? They do *not* die after 30-40 charges! You're just spreading rumors. I've had mine for a couple years and I use it literally every day, it still holds its original charge just fine.
And for personal digital devices (like an iPod), the design is a huge factor to consider. It's not just eye candy. The user interface of the iPod is a marvel. It's simple, it's clean, it's comfortable, and it's very good at what it does. This is backed up by perfectly good hardware. All mp3 players or more or less the same on the inside, what's going to seperate them besides the way they operate? You can only play an mp3 so well.
Also, the iPod is not overpriced. Tell that to Apple, who can't keep the damn things on the shelves even priced the way they are.
Sure, there are some people who blindly love everything Apple does, but I feel like there's just as many people that love to hate everything they do just because they're Apple. It's not much better. Remember that there's a reason they have the reputation they do.
October 31st, 2004 at 9:27 pm
I've owned three iPods since the original 5 Gig model came out and I've never regretted a purchase. My son currently has the original 5 Gig while my wife has my old 20 Gig. They're still working just fine and I still haven't had to replace the internal battery on all three.
With the 60 Gig iPod Photo, I'll finally be able to get my entire music collection in one place for the first time. My collection now tops 13,000 songs and audio books (the latter including This American Life and Harry Shearer's wonderful weekly satirical radio program, Le Show). The photo capabilities are tangential to me. Yeah, it would be great if it had a decent media reader but that's really not what I plan to use it for anyway.
I have to admit, tho, the black and red U2 special edition iPod is way cool...
November 1st, 2004 at 10:12 am
yeah, i saw that, it looks awesome. i wish they'd sell them in different colors similar to that all the time.
i didn't mean to start a thread this controversial. hopefully, no one's toes are getting stepped on too hard.
November 2nd, 2004 at 8:40 am
Damn, I love Macs as much as the next guy, but let Apple do their own advertising will ya? If I want to read Apple hype, I'll go to their site. A link would've been sufficient.
November 2nd, 2004 at 5:01 pm
I love PCs. I also love my iPod. Companies like Apple spend a lot of money on human interface design and ergonomics, and therefore they reap the benefits. Nikon has also done their homework in that regard. I can take a photo with one hand with my N80 and change songs on my iPod with my other. When you see many non-techie grandmothers sporting iPods, you know Apple has a successful product on their hands.
You wouldn't want a camera with the viewfinder on the front and shutter release on the bottom, would you?
Jessyel, they way you state your commentary is quite inflammatory. Making sweeping generalizations and making hollow concessions is a surefire way to generate a lot of heat.
November 3rd, 2004 at 3:24 pm
Let's not forget that the iPod can be used strictly as a portable hard drive, and for the price it's a great non-wired thing to have on the road. There is a third-party device for downloading cards onto it- invaluable if you were going on vacation and didn't want to risk taking your laptop. Sure, you can get a 120G HD for less than half the price, but how would that help you going from country to country with different electrical systems and the SIZE.
On the other hand, it's a first-generation change to the software/hardware. So there are bound to be plenty of bugs in it right now, as with anything else. Personally I'll wait until the kinks have been worked out to get one. In the meantime, my year-old ipod will do just fine.
November 4th, 2004 at 10:36 am
Just my two cents. But... Who the heck wants to carry around tiny little pictures on a tiney little screen with them? You can't see any of the detail. You can't blow them up. I can just see it now at Christmas, you and Grandma and Grandpa sitting around the iPod with Uncle Charlie all squinting trying to look at a tiny picture on a little screen.
Don't get me wrong, the photo iPod has great brand name and thus will sell and will be a novelty and kind of a cool thing at first, but it will wear off after people get bored of seeing tiny little pictures on tiny little screens. It's a fad, a trend.
I can kind of see the point that maybe you could use it to transport photos from your house to grandma's house to put them on her hard drive, but any old external hard drive does this trick and more. And it's not so easy getting things on and off iPods from my experience and what I've heard from others.
As for me, I love the idea of portability of pictures but I just put them all on my laptop which goes with me everywhere. The pictures are much larger and I have full photo editing tools via photoshop there at my disposal. Oh yeah and it also plays music and can hold more pictures and music than an iPod. Oh yeah and I can check my email with it, post to my blog with it, read my RSS feeds with it. Oh and I can watch dvd's on it, rip grandma's CDs (wink, wink) while I'm at her house, watch video that I've transfered from a Media Center PC back at my house and more.
As for sitting around a couch squinting at little pictures on a photo iPod. No thanks.
Seems to me that today's ultimate media convergence device is the laptop, not the photo iPod. Now if only I could put the thing up to the side of my face and make a phone call with it.
November 4th, 2004 at 12:56 pm
You pretty much can.
http://www.webphone.com
May 20th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
Can a DVd show be stored on the iPod Photo?
How can this be done/
Thanks for any info.
August 24th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
i recently purchased a replacement iPod battery from http://www.laptopsforless.com and it works great but are there any advantages to the high-capacity batteries i keep hearing about?
September 4th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
cool, a particular introduction about the ipod photo, i have an ipod, and also made some photos, great!
November 1st, 2006 at 7:45 pm
excellant insight, made a refreshing change.
Keep them coming
October 17th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
i love your blog , continue