iPods and Complaints

Yesterday, at about 12:00 Central time, Steve Jobs (of Apple Inc.) announced some fresh new iPods.
But, unlike many other launches of new Apple products, it felt (to me) a little messy.

There were several impovements and additions to the iPod line, including a dwarf-esque/video playing Nano, a new extra-roomy iPod (which they now call the iPod Classic), and color changes to the Nanos and Shuffles (not including the now silver, instead of white, iPod Classic). And, taking the floor, the iPod Touch, which many call "an iPhone without the phone".

There were several complaints over the new products, though, such as not enough space in the Touch, and that the Nano is now oddly shaped and sometimes too small.

My take, though, is this:

The new colors on the Shuffle and Nano are... strange. They all seem to be 'cool' colors, as opposed to 'warm' colors now. The only color that really stands out in the Shuffles is the RED edition.

I have absolutely no complaints on the new UI (user interface) on the Nano and Classic iPods. It's still simple but now adds a half-screen preview which looks great, based on screen shots and videos.

The extra space on the iPod Classics are more than enough now with memory up to 160 GB's which, according to Apple, can hold up to 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video. No complaints here, and I don't know why anyone would complain about the improvements to the Classic.

As for the Nanos, I'm not sure what to think. They're still very cool looking, but seem like they would fit not-so-great in your hand. They're too square, in my opinion, which seems like it would give you a hurting hand after a few games (3 are included) or scrolls through long menus. The screen also seems like it would give you a headache if you watch a movie on it, but it's good to know you can now.

Finally, the iPod Touch is the one I would get if I got an iPod, which I haven't yet done (jeez, what's wrong with me?). Although, this addition to the iPod line seems like it has gotten the most crap from fans and critics. And, along with these complaints, I'd like to contradict them.

First off, the complaint on the drive space. 8 GB or 16 GB are the choices, and for me I would prefer the 16 GB over the 8 GB, but who wouldn't? It doesn't majorly affect me, considering in my music phone loaded with videos and music, I only have a gig, which I haven't yet filled. My iTunes library has 8.5 GBs worth of music, but I really only listen to about a GB of it, and only 500 mb do I ever ACTUALLY listen to. My videos in my library, which include several free TV shows from the iTunes store and a small collection of podcasts, only equals about 1.5 GBs. Now, for me, an 8 GB iPod wouldn't be a problem for me, but I could see it could be for some who like to put all their music in their pocket, whether they've listened to it in the last 10 years or not.

Second, I LOVE the idea of using wi-fi to browse the internet on my iPod. Watching YouTube videos too, which I find myself doing for an hour at a time. Oh, AND browsing the iTunes store for music. But, along with this, comes the complaint of no Google Maps app, and no Email app.

But anyone who is complaining, stop and think. The iPod is not being advertised as a "communications device". It's being advertised as an iPod. Plus, if these apps were included, why would anyone want to buy an iPhone? What would set it apart, and what purpose would the iPhone have? You can still check your email on the Safari web browser, and even use maps and more.

Oh, and, I love photography, too, and showing off pictures and browsing through my photo library on it would be awesome on the 3.5 inch screen, instead of the 2.5 inch screen on my Samsung Sync, which doesn't even let me view photos in landscape mode. Just thought I'd say that.

Anyway, the new line is basically very decision driven on what you want to do with your iPod. Is it just music? Music with a couple videos to show off to your buds? Carrying thousands and thousands of songs in your pocket? Or an odd mix of all of those? Take your pick, or continue to wait until they come out with something even better in the next, give or take, 6 months.