The New iPods – Which One Do I Buy?

So the new iPods have hit the street. Er, hit the interwebs, since the stores won’t have stock until the weekend. I haven’t bought a new iPod in a while. A long while. Three years? Maybe. Generation 5. I was given an iPod nano for a gift two years ago – I think that was the last “new” iPod I’ve brought into the house… that means I’m due for an upgrade.

Which model am I going to buy?

Right now, I have to say… none of them.

Reeeeeeh? None? None. At least not right now… at the moment my PMP collection includes: a 30GB Gen 5 iPod, a 4GB Gen 1 iPod nano, and a 1GB PSP (for video, not games – I use a DS Lite for what little mobile gaming I do). I use the iPod nano at the gym because it’s got the longer battery life of the three and it’s solid state. I use the iPod around the house or on long trips because it holds all of my music. I use the PSP for videos in random places because it’s got a 4″ screen and has external sound without speakers.

Which new iPod can help me out here? Let’s run down the product list.

iPhone – touchscreen phones make my feet itch. Always have. Probably always will. So that’s a no, even if I could get it running on T-Mobile – I get a larger capacity device without the phone part and that suits me.

iPod shuffle – no screen, no buy. I don’t care how neat, how small, or how pretty it is: I need a screen. Call it a security blanket if you want, but the simple truth is that I’d rather go $50 for the controls-on-the-wire add on than I would get an iPod shuffle.

It’s just not for me.

iPod nano – interesting size and shape, this lil fat guy. Still small, still solid state – now with video and the new iPod UI… I’ll take a look at it but the key thing for me here is that my current iPod nano was a gift: I’ll keep a hold of that until it dies. Because of that, it’s not replacing my current iPod nano. Beyond that it’s too small storage wise to hold all of my music – about 14GB – and it’s 2″ screen looks like a stamp compared to the PSP.

iPod classic – dig on the 80GB and 160GB sizes! The new colors? OK, but what I really like that it’s all metal now… the iPod was due for a style update. That the 80GB is thinner than my 30GB model? I already thought the 30GB impossibly thin… this is outright sick! It also has the new iPod UI, like the iPod nano, but… so what? I mean, what’s the reason to upgrade? More space? I’m already less than 1/2 full. Fresh battery? My current iPod is alive and well. So while Gen 6 has great improvement and continues to evolve the iPod classic product line, it hasn’t giving an urgent reason to get one [yet].

iPod touch – this is the obvious and most compelling model, for me. It’s uber thin. It’s very shiny. It’s got WiFi which is nifty for quick browsing. It has calendar, contacts, and notes support. Wait a minute… it’s a Newton! Actually, it does remind me of the Pocket PC platform, when it was a non-phone device… the iPod touch is a full blown PDA: PIM information, web browsing, WiFi, media playback, but no email (the only missing PDA function).

Do I need a PDA? Uh, no, that’s why I got a T-Mobile Dash in the first place… I used to have a PDA and a [Nokia 8390 or Ericsson t68] phone but once I could keep my PIM information on a device I was already carrying everywhere, I stopped getting the separate PDA hardware. I don’t need music/movies/pictures on my phone – if I did, I’d be doing that on my Dash already or I’d have an iPhone in hand. So not only do I like the separation of phone and media player fucntions, but I also have very little interested in the PDA functions.

The web browser is finty – I’m sure I’d use it if I had the iPod touch with me, but I’m reasonably certain I wouldn’t carry it every day. Certainly not if I already had the phone with me. The iTunes WiFi Music Store… that is an interesting item. The Starbucks deal? Huge. I mean, just the fact that your iPod/iPhone is integrated with your coffee house… that just made me go *whoa* as a consumer and an investor of AAPL and SBUX. But, is that a reason to buy a new iPod touch?

No.

The real limitations that I see here are price and capacity. Sure, I could prune my music collection. The 14GB would fit on the iPod touch right now, but take wouldn’t leave me much room for video. I figure I could get the music collection down to 10GB – 6GB is easily 6 movies if not 12. So that’s ample. But… do I want to live with that restriction, if I’m putting out $400 for the new device?

My Geek side says yes. It would say do it, but it’s being a little hesitant now because my practical side has kicked the Geek side in the nuts, twice, for trying to click “Check Out” on the Apple site. 32GB at $399? No brainer. 16GB at $299? Almost definitely. 32GB at $499? Uh, no – too expensive, that. The fact that the iPhone came out two months ago and it’s already dropped $200? Scary. The fact that I saw people buying Gen 5.5 iPod over the weekend? How do they feel? I mean, I’ve been through this before with Apple… the no warning, “hey we just fucked you, without even buying you dinner” changing of the product line bit. Hard to swallow. I feel bad for the first wave of iPhone buyers… of course, they’re still basking in the glow of their phone, saying “oh, I don’t mind!” not even realizing that they were part of a stick up – they seem to be more concerned that they have to spend $0.99 for ringtones… again, on WM, I’ve been using WAV and MP3 files for years – this isn’t a new feature from Apple, it’s plugging a hole. That they charge for it is… well, again, as an investor I say Yay! How a person can be pissed over $0.99 for a ringtone and not the blown $200 Early Adopter’s Tax, I’ll never know.

So far, I haven’t pulled the trigger. Am I waiting to see what the so called “Zune 2” is like? Yeah, I guess I am subconsciously… I haven’t heard anything about it yet – I’ve been getting all of the rumors the same way you have, via Engadget and Gizmodo. One thing I did chuckle at was Jobs’ comment of “someone else tried WiFi before and it failed”… I think that Apple is halfway there. Buying songs online? OK, nice, but show me how I can sync my device over the air. Or how I can get around the 16GB limit when I’m home: when can I stream my music from my home PC/Mac? So they’ve done better with WiFi than the first generation Zune did but it’s still not all there.

And by acknowledging that the Zune exists at all, he sort of legitimizes the product, which I also thought was amusing – God knows Steve can never introduce a product without taking a shot at Microsoft… as an underdog, it makes sense, but when you’re leading the market? Why call attention to the competition? Ah well – I guess just because he can but I still say it lacks some class…

Anyway, for the time being, I’m staying put with the three separate devices – we’ll see for how long, though!


3 thoughts on “The New iPods – Which One Do I Buy?”

  1. You already know that the ipod touch is fail.

    However- I did see something on tv about them last night and the new ipods are um, really cute. That super cute green one could fit a lot of super cute kid friendly songs on it, which would totally rule for long car trips when I want to listen to my music thats full of swear words. You know what I mean.

    But by that time there will be something else out that’s better, and possibly in purple or with a hello kitty skin.

  2. Having a widescreen iPod (iphone) for a few months has made going back to a normal sized screen impossible for me. The iPhone was/is the BEST iPod to date, especially since it allowed me to collapse to a single device. Sure, the phone part isnt the strong suit, but as a media/occasional net device, its great.

    Personally, an 8gb jump to the 16gb touch isn’t worth it – 32gb or 64gb, maybe.

    Anyways, the 16gb touch is $399, not $499. If I didnt have the phone, I’d go for the 16gb.

  3. Oops, the 499 was a typo, but yeah, the model that would be the best fit would be the 16GB iPod touch *if* I decide to leave some music home… we’ll see – still got time before it’s out

    @Anna – I dunno if it’s t3h fail yet but it sounds like the coloring of the rest of the line has upped it’s kawaii factor ^.^


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