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The software supplied with the Windows version fails to do justice to the hardware. Though the MusicMatch software is well featured it’s clunky and slow and on occasion caused the iPod to lock up. In its favour it does use the Franhoefer codec to produce high quality MP3s. It’s also useful for automatically retrieving track titles from the Internet and creating the ID3 tags needed to navigate tracks on the iPod. There are alternatives however, such as the freely downloadable Ephpod, which can entirely replace MusicMatch.

To spice things up a little Apple has added extra features such as some basic games, which are simple but fun, and support for text files and contacts as well as a clock and an alarm. The iPod is still no PDA and features like these are really no more than gimmicks. It would have been preferable for Apple to focus its energies on more useful music related features such as having the option to fade tracks into one another instead.

Format wise the iPod supports both CBR and VBR MP3s, as well as Wavs and the Audible book format. While Mac users get the benefit of the newer and more efficient AAC format there’s no such luck for Windows users. There’s also no support for newer formats such as MP3 Pro or Ogg Vorbis. As this is an Apple product, the lack of WMA support is somewhat inevitable though no less disappointing.
There can be no complaints about sound quality however, with the device offering a detailed and full sound. This however is only true through a decent pair of headphones. The ones in the box look good but performance is disappointing.

The Lithium Ion battery is rated at eight hours which is two hours shy of the original. In our tests it actually lasted for just over eight hours. However manually skipping between tracks requires disk access, and using features such as the EQ settings increases the power drain. On average I got between six and seven hours of use a day. One bugbear though is the fact that the battery will lose charge when not being used.

However for all its faults there is no denying that the iPod is, more than ever, an incredibly desirable piece of techno jewellery. It’s beautifully styled, portable, powerful and a pleasure to use. However, you have to pay for the privilege and there are better featured and better value players available though they don’t come close to the iPod’s mixture of form and function. For that the new iPod deserves to be recommended though we’d still look at the alternatives before making a purchase.

Verdict

Apple has raised the style bar even higher on the new iPod making it even thinner, lighter and sleeker than before. However with no support for WMA files, a reduced battery life and a high price it’s not quite the perfect product that all the hype suggests. Definitely a desirable object but we’d recommend Windows users compare closely with the Philips HDD100 before buying.

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