Impressions of the new 5G iPod?

Has anyone picked up the new 5G iPod? I'm seriously considering picking one up when my area's Apple Store has it's grand-opening on Saturday. Unfortunately I haven't seen any of the big-hitters review it yet. Most have been focusing on the second generation Nano, but I've got my heart set on teh 5G. I was wondering specifically about the clarity of the videos in the new resolution and also the performance of the new headphones. Thanks.

Big hitter Reviews:

iLounge. They gave it an A-.

C-Net. They gave it an 8.3/10.

Time. They gave it "gadget of the week" (which may or may not be very prestigious...)

Ahhh...the taste of your own words...

Thanks man.

Still would love to hear from some Mac-Forums members though!

All I know is no firewire = no buy for me. Just doesn't make sense to me especially with the videos.

I hear that usb 2.0 is very fast on pc but I know it is slow on macs. FW is awesome on macs and Apple needs to cater to the loyal Apple users imo or at least compromise and give both options. That's just my two little apples on the subject!

Sursociofla, I feel you on that post, but honestly after owning one and seeing the transfer times, it's not as bad as you'd think.

My transfers have been about the same speed as my Firewire iPod Mini.

Agreed with SurfWax. And USB 2.0 on the Mac is no different than USB 2.0 on the PC. USB 2.0 is USB 2.0. I have used it on both systems side by side and it works the same. I see no speed difference.

And this is coming from a LARGE fan of Firewire. I won't use anything else but Firewire for external Hard Drives unless I have to.

Agreed with Dennis. All of my externals are Firewire (and 7200rpm).

USB2.0 is actually rated *faster* than Firewire (400 vs 480), but USB will only spike that high. It averages around 350-375 MB/s.

Don't let USB2.0 keep you from a great product, really.

the 5g is great.. unfortuanetly the headphones are as crap as ever.. one thing i think lets the ipod and apple down still. i use the decent sony in ear ones that look like little eardefenders

Yep, very true but that's if you aren't using it as a disk also and that's very annoying. Snails move faster than it takes to move a few gigs of data over 2.0. But yeah if it is just for music and stuff it's all good. I use my Pod for just about everything.

My external HD is USB 2.0 and so is my 5G iPod. Both are very quick.
I also set my iPod to disk mode. I don't notice any difference in speed between it and when I had a 3G iPod transferring over FireWire.

WasabiTaylor said:

I was wondering specifically about the clarity of the videos in the new resolution...

Click to expand...

New resolution? Did I miss something? I thought it was just a brighter display?

^^ The resolution stays the same, and you're right, brighter display.

I just bought a 8GB nano, transferred 1.5GB worth of music right there in the store (5th Ave), I was outta there in no time!

I just bought mine the other day. The picture is great, especially for videos, it look's awsome. The headphones tend to hurt my ear sometimes though cause they dont fit right, or maybe I just have a weird ear, I don't know. Sound is good, games look great. For some reason is seems it's much more scratch resistant on the front side too.

slyseeker, was it by chance datavision on 5th ave? That's where I got my 1st ed 5G. As far the firewire/usb 2.0 thing. Its really not THAT slow. Sure firewire is quicker, **** I use it for when I transfer big files from mac to mac instead of wireless. I sure don't mind the wait to transfer larger amounts of data to my iPod, I only do it every so often. I haven't really had one of the new ones in my hand since my local Apple store doesn't have some in yet. But once they do I'll defenitely check 'em out and compare. To me the only major differences I see is brighter display and lower prices, oh and of course the 80gb model..

I just sold my original iPod video on ebay and got a brand new one. It's great, the search feature is nifty too.

The videos are in a new resolution though...right?

Yes, they are now in the format of 640x480 instead of the 320x240.

Getting headphones right is an awfully hard thing to do. Our ears are extremely seinsitive as they are unique, each one of us has different wants and preferences, I for one hated buds, I only like Sennheiser Open Headphones. Might look retro, but sure is comfy.

The headphones are decent for pack-ins.
I want that 80GB; the battery life is the main attraction.

Should I be able to use the power adapter that came with my 4G iPod since it uses the firewire cable ? I'm thinking about getting a 5G this weekend...