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Think of it as Apple's Wheel of Fortune. On every Apple Computer's market leading iPod music player there is a donut-shaped, touch-pad-like control wheel with an execute button in the donut hole. It is one of the rarest of all creatures in the tech world: a multifunction device that actually works. And it is what makes the iPod by far the best portable digital music player around. It's just plain simple to use. [To go to the main page for Digital Music Revolution coverage, please click here.] To be sure, when the iPod came on the market it was a breakthrough in size. There had been other hard drive-based players before it, but they were built around notebook drives and were accordingly bulky. Apple used a new small form factor drive to create a player only a little bit larger than a cigarette pack, a player small enough to tuck inside your pocket. But at least part of the credit here goes to Toshiba, which made the drive. iPod's ease of navigation -- The Wheel -- is what makes it special. Getting a lot of music onto a player is a relatively easy task. Finding the music when you want to play it, now that's the challenge. That is where iPod excels. Not surprisingly, Apple zealously guards the wheel design. Competitors who have flirted with copying it reportedly hear early and often from Apple's legal corps. Use an iPod and you immediately will see why. At start up, you arrive at a main menu that gives you access to various key functions. The list varies depending on which generation iPod you own, but for all of them the top two choices are "Playlists" and "Browse." Rub your figure on the wheel to select a menu item and push the button: In Playlists you get -- duh -- song playlists you have created. In Browse, you get a range of music categories -- Artists, Albums, Songs, Genres, and (this one is unique to iPod and a boon to classical fans) Composers. Another desirable iPod touch is that the "Shuffle" play includes the ability to randomly play by album as well as by song. Working your way this far is no big deal, but when you go to the next level the range of choices -- songs on your play lists, your list of albums, etc. -- is going to be a long list of items, and for that the wheel is a genuine marvel. It accelerates as you move through the long lists so that you get from your "A's" to "Z's" in a snap. Aaron Copland to Xavier Cugart in a couple of twirls around the wheel. Considering that the popular 20GB iPod ($399) can hold 5,000 songs, the 40GB ($499) tested for this review, 10,000, and the even the smallest one, the new 15 GB ($299), holds 3,333, you can see that you would have one whole lot of scrolling to do without that capability. On top of that, when you are playing music, the wheel serves as a volume control and, with a click of the center button, as a means to advance or return to a specific portion of a song. In addition to the wheel, the iPod's controls include skip back, skip forward, play, and menu button, plus a hold switch to lock the controls so you don't inadvertently drain the iPod's batteries. That's all. Simple and intuitive.
For the 3Gs, Apple is using an even smaller Toshiba drive, which has resulted in iPods that are even more slender and light -- 5.6 oz. for the 15 and 20 GB, 6.2 for the 40 GB -- at least a couple of ounces less than the competition. The slenderizing came at a price, though -- less battery life than previous models, although it still is an ample 8 hours. The reason is remarkably simple, less space = smaller battery. The new form factor also does not have enough width for the FireWire connector port of previous models, so Apple moved to a new, narrow "dock" connector and relocated it from the top of the unit to the bottom. This is a good tradeoff for users as 20 and 40 GB iPods come with a docking station in which you place the iPod when syncing it to your computer or recharging it. The dock also has an audio jack for connecting speakers. Additional capabilities in the 3G include new alarm, text, voice recording (with an optional mike), and photo storage (again with an optional unit) functions, plus enhanced clock, calendar and contact functions. You wouldn't want to throw away your PDA, but on a trip you can leave it home. Windows users should invest in ICC Software's iPodSync to take full advantage of these capabilities. Plugged into the Altec-Lansing inMotion speaker system, the iPod now is a very cool travel alarm clock. The 40 GB particularly benefits from these add-ons as its size will accommodate a large song collection and still leaves room to use it as a portable hard drive. Considering that the original iPod "only" held 5 GB, Apple's ability to put eight times the capacity in a smaller package is quite astonishing. One buying tip: I rarely recommended getting extended warranty plans, but the $53
AppleCare Protection Plan for iPod is worth your consideration. Apple was -- justly -- criticized for having no service to replace iPod batteries when they wore out, but eventually agreed to a $99 replacement program. The AppleCare plan includes two years of battery coverage and extends support from 90 days to two years. Remember, this is a
portable music player. You are going to be jogging with it, taking in the car, sticking it into a suitcase, whatever. Things break. Another tip: Apple has made a combo USB 2.0 (for syncing) - FireWire (for charging) cable available to Windows users whose systems typically have the former but not the latter. It's good to have this cable to insure that you can use your iPod on any Windows PC. However, unless you are really paranoid about opening up the box, I recommend installing a FireWire card if you don't have one. FireWire is faster and more efficient for such data transfers as moving large quantities of large music files. Admittedly, neither the iPod nor the 3G is brand new. One of the things that prompted this review was the release of Apple's iTunes for Windows music software, with accompanying access to the iTunes Music Store download service. This has made a huge difference for Windows users. I am a long-time user, and fan, of MusicMatch Jukebox, Apple's previous Windows iPod application. But for seamless integration of player and desktop software, the iPod-iTunes combo is unbeatable. File transfers are quick, and management of playlists and song information is easy. As with the iPod itself, the user interface is intuitive and the look is cool. Also new was the announcement at the recent Consumer Electronics Show that HP, which was expected to launch its own music player and download service, would instead partner with Apple to offer HP-branded iPods and the iTunes Music Store, and will put iTunes software on all its PCs. Apple has been alone in supporting the MP4/AAC (Advanced Audio Codec; an audio file compression and digital rights management technology) format in the Windows world -- and obviously it doesn't not make Windows computers itself. So having one of the PC giants put iTunes on its products goes a long way to protect Apple's lead in music player and online download market share. It also makes for a counter to the entry of Dell, Gateway, and others into the player market. Pricing is one thing to keep your eye on. During Super Bowl weekend, Apple's online store held a rare 10 percent off sale on iPods. Some analysts believe that digital music players could turn into cut-price commodities like PCs, and that iPod's prices will not be competitive. Counter theory is that so long as Apple protects its wheel and navigation, it has a demonstrable competitive advantage. Unlike a PC, a music player is not a business machine, it's a discretionary entertainment expense. The parallel may be Bose, which sells its Wave Radios for much more than its competition on the strength of its Cooler Than Thou image. Obviously, so far the formula is working for Apple. In its financial quarter ended December 27, 2003, the company reported shipping 733,000 iPod units, up 235 percent from the year-ago quarter. Let's do the math: if you estimate an average iPod price around $375 (a little below the $400 price of the 20GB) we are talking about more than a quarter-billion dollars in iPod retail sales. Very sweet music indeed for Steve Jobs and Co. (c) 2004 Al Gordon. In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can reach Al Gordon at:  Return to Top
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This is supplemental information to the article:
First and second generation iPods put the back, foward, menu, and play buttons on a ring around the wheel. The current models, third generation popularly known as "3G" puts those buttons in a row above the wheel. The 3Gs controls also are all touch sensitive without moving parts. As someone who owns a second generation iPod and was used to the old layout, I kind of miss it. but
as they say, life moves on.