My iPod Touch - Part Deux

Stop!

Consider reading My iPod Touch - Part 1 before moving on here.

Good to go? Excellent...

Let's get Technical

I have the 16gig 2G iPod Touch. I settled on 16gigs after weighing considerations between storage space & cost. I surmised, correctly, the 8gig version would not be sufficient for my storage needs. That bed was too small. The 32gig, while attractive, was just way too close to the cost of a new laptop. That bed was too big!

iPod Touch Techical Specifications
iPod Touch Features

Music, Music, Music...

Because my Nano "only" had a 2gig capacity, I was selective in my music choices. Currently, the digital portion of my music library is hovering around 6 gigs. That may sound like a big library. But truth be told, it's a modest sum. It's from a mix of sources including CDs, iTunes, free sources & other digital download sites. I probably have 50% of my CD collection that still hasn't been converted. The Nano's size meant that I was simply reluctant to unload favorite mixes to get at the bottom shelves of my music collection. Great stuff like Rush's Moving Pictures went unplayed. Other stuff like Sound Garden hasn't even been transfered from CD.

The first thing I did was load my entire digital collection onto the iPod Touch. The 8gig model would have been done then and there. With the 16gig model, I've started converting more CDs and adding them to the collection.

Now, the delema with that much music is playlists. You can forever make playlists and always miss music. You can hit shuffle on everything and never get a good mix. Apple added two really good features to their current Touch/iTunes software to help. First, they finally added playlist shuffle. This means that you can shuffle a playlist on the fly without have to resort. Second, they added Genius feature.

Genius is an "opt-in" option for iTunes. By opting in, you sync your music collection with Apple's database...

No really, I turned this feature on! It's an uncomfortable experience knowing that someone is looking over your shoulder even if they "claim" to make everything annonymous. Visions of the RIAA coming along with a Lawsuit to look over Apple's client info crept into my nightmares. Folks know that I'm a bit of a goody-goody and even I've got some "free" music scattered about my collection. But I digress...

Once the sync is complete, you can choose any song in your collection for iTunes Genius to create a 25-song playlist around. They also, not surprisingly, use it as a vehicle to "suggest" music from the iTunes store. At first it was "good." Then a recent iTunes update improved the song selection. Then last week's Touch software update 2.2 came along and made it even better by allowing me to Genius playlists directly on the Touch and to "refresh" song-based playlists when I'm ready for a change.

And the results?

Sometimes I get surprised when Dusty Springfield shows up on the same playlist as AudioSlave. And yet, on that playlist based on Seven Nation Army by White Stripe, it totally works. In fact, I'm hearing and loving songs that I've not heard in a long time. I, for whatever reason, rarely listed to any of my Pink Floyd, but now it's appearing on my Genius playlists.

Genius is yet another example of Apple's ability to make Net Neutrality, Open Source-lovin' types cringe. For those of you who don't know what this means, it's like Libertarians on the internet. We (yes I include myself in this crowd even though I'm an Apple-Lovin' Fool) want nothing less than a free and open internet where people "respect" intellectual property rights & privacy, yet share ideas, bandwidth & software freely. Apple's system is so controlling & invasive, but it's so amazingly good.

So, now you've got your music, your playlists, your Genius playlists and your ready to listen. Now, the Touch's cool-factor kicks in. The iPod Touch music navigation starts with a really efficient menu system and then converts to a cover-art flow. I've never been about the extras. Yet, the extras are just too cool to ignore. Skimming through my music collection with a flick of my finger is a fun experience.

But how does it Sound?

Sound quality, oddly, is a bit of a low priority for Apple. If you're a true Audiophile you hate MP3 music anyway. But, truthfully, the only thing holding my iPod back is the earbuds. Better earbuds, just like better speakers, make most digital music sound great.

Next post: the other stuff...
Which is to say a lot is still left to cover. We haven't talked about iPhone/Touch Apps yet. We haven't discussed WiFi access.