15 out of 15 people found this review helpful.
Very disappointed - taking it back to the store tomorrow
Date of Review: Oct 31, 2003
The Bottom Line: Don't buy an iPod unless you can cope with the pitiful battery life or unless you just want to look cool.
Ok, first things first, because I'm sure there are other people out there in a similar position to the one I was in a week ago, really wanting to buy an iPod but struggling to justify such an expensive purchase:
DON'T BUY IT AS A REPLACEMENT FOR A MINIDISC OR PORTABLE CD PLAYER!!!
Why, you ask? Why? Simply because the battery life is absolutely dismal! I realise that there is a hard disk in there which needs a fair bit of power to run, but in completely normal usage I have so far only achieved approximately 4-6 hours of playback on each battery charge right out of the box. Despite Apple's claims of "over 8 hours" of battery life, you will not get anywhere near this if you want such crazy luxuries as:
- changing or skipping tracks
- stopping and starting the player as it suits you
- fast fowarding through songs
- listening at higher volumes
- using the built in light to illuminate the screen at night
- using the built in alarm clock
- using high bitrate MP3s (!)
After considerable research, I have found that according to Apple (deep down in their tech support web pages) all of the things listed above can reduce battery life. So, for a device that takes nearly three full hours to charge, you can reasonably expect approximately 5 hours of actual playback, if you're lucky. I look at the other reviews here and I can't understand why people are giving the iPod four or five stars for battery life. My minidisc player (may it rest in peace) played back for up to 35 hours ON A SINGLE AA BATTERY, and it had to spin a disc, AND decode a compressed audio file just like the iPod.
The upshot of all of this is that for a person like me, the iPod is essentially useless. I want to be able to listen to the iPod on the way to work for half an hour, at work for 6-8 hours, on the way home for another half hour, and maybe later on too, and I don't want to be carting around an AC adaptor and firewire cable for the privelige - otherwise why is this a 'portable' music player? I can pick up my Yamaha component CD player and take that to work and get a comparable degree of portability. I also want to be able to listen to it on long plane flights (longer than 5 hours), long car trips, and on more than one day in a row without a recharge in between. And if I travel, I don't want to spring for a bunch of power adapters for every country I visit.
Ok, ok, this is sounding like a bit of a grudge-building exercise, I know. So let me put a different spin on things: the reason this is very upsetting is that, aside from the battery issues, the iPod is wonderful. It is truly beautiful, has an insane capacity, great interface, wonderful software now that iTunes is available, insanely fast FireWire connection (I did Gigabytes in literally a few minutes), nice remote (in my humble opinion, especially as it's made of metal not plastic), and is astonishingly small (possibly because they forgot to put a battery in there). So this just makes it all the more painful that I am trekking into town tomorrow to ask for a refund because the battery doesn't live up to its advertised life under completely normal playback conditions.
Up till now I've always thought of Apple as a quality company with a great focus on design. This is my first purchase from them, and I am afraid to say it is also likely to be my last. They have sacrificed functionality for style, shaving a few millimetres of the iPod in exchange for the loss of a lot of battery life. From what I hear the older iPods could reasonably be expected to exceed 10 hours - now it's smaller, but you're looking at 5-6.
As a closing comment, I would like to add that all the positive reviews you are reading are not from audiophiles and music fanatics - music fanatics would notice if their player stopped playing after a few hours use. They are from admirers of the iPods slick design and cool features. I'm not trying to attack Apple fans (too much), I just think it is important for ordinary consumers to know that this is not the amazing wonder device others would have it be.
My advice: buy a decent Sony Minidisc player. Great battery life, great sound quality, lower price.
