Contributing to global climate change since 1965, Allen believes that you have a Constitutional right to his opinion. 
iPod, uPod, oui all Pod
I’ve been listening to tunes on my 15MB Apple iPod for about three months now and thought I’d make a note, if not a review of the gear here. First of all, it’s just amazing to be able to tote along not just some of my music but all of my music. After quite a few nights of playing disk jocky with my CD’s, I digitized (ripped) almost all of my collection to my iMac. Subsequently I downloaded those tunes to the iPod via a FireWire connection. The iPod indicates 1754 “songs” inside and they go just about wherever I do.
The headphones that came with the unit are those little “earbud” things that, on me anyway, fall out at the slightest head movement. I purchased a pair of Philips behind-the-head headphones that work better for me when I’m moving around.
Battery life could be better. I find that they won’t last an entire workday and so near quitting time I’m forced to listen to the clickity-clack of my keyboard. Charging is accomplished through a desktop cradle by way of the FireWire cable, drawing it’s power from either the iMac or from a specially made AC wall bug. If I want to do charging away from home, I’ll need to purchase another FireWire cable.
Audio quality is quite good, regardless of source: mp3 or AAC files. My musical tastes range from quiet vocal-dominant ballads to thrashing Industrial stompers and the iPod handles them all with equal grace.
The touch-sensitive controls can at times be a tad too touchy. It is very easy to inadvertently move to the next song or drive the volume up to 11. Fortunately there is a switch at the top which disables the front panel controls. The display has a contrast control, but I have yet to find a setting I’m completely happy with. The built-in backlight mitigates the issue somewhat but use of the light reduces battery life. Alas, there is no free lunch.
Oddly enough, this review came about because I wanted to talk about Karsh Kale’s new album Liberation. It rocks my world… and my iPod.
