so long 40GB, hello 80GB

(tags music, hardware, iPod, unboxing, photo-expose)

So I bought the white 80GB Apple iPod. I also bought a felt, skin tight cover and of course applied the screen film (with no air bubble w00t!) mere seconds after I ripped off the "Do Not Steal" sticker. Booted it up (it was battery charged out of the box) and since this is mostly a game log, brought up full color Solitaire. OMG, color rocks, even though the game still controls like... pass.

I did the full "unboxing" ritual, even photographing taking off the various films and covers. Very satisfying. There's probably better unboxers out there so I'll just leave it at this resolution:

I have to load some pictures, now that I can use this as a photo album. And the idea of games on the iPod intrigues me, so I bought Bejeweled and Tetris, for the second and billionth time, respectively. 600 yen each, not too cheap, but not bad. There's a seperate page on the iTunes app that shows the games and how to play them. I'm surprised the directions aren't localized to Japanese (or is it because I using localized US English?), but at least the review page has Japanese comments.

Ah, the box is half the size of the older one. Maybe I'll snap a picture comparing 3G versus 6G 5.5G (third generation iPod 2003-4 versus sixth minor rev up 5th generation iPod 2006-). It turns out I can't use that dock adapter with my 3G dock, and the dock I need costs 4500 yen. Ugh.

Yeah, I went for the white instead of black. That skin is a "Poco" by Bird Electron, made out a material called Torex Ecsaine (register trademark), which feels like chamois leather or buck skin. Heh, sure. It's halfway between a iPod "condom" and designer leather cases, and it feels grippy and soft at the same time. Very nice.

I also bought the 2 year Apple Care for iPod, 7800 yen. Hey, a sucker born every minute. The sales guy was pretty helpful and non-pushy, explaining the difference between Docks and size and covers and stuff. I braced myself for the "warranty?" speel, but he said if the battery goes 50% within the 2 year period, I can get it (? battery? iPod?) replaced. I had my 3G iPod for 2 years, and 40 minutes is definately below 50%. Battery tech just doesn't improve as fast as I want it too. I just hope this isn't a Sony made battery, explode.

While I'm on this iPod/iTunes topic, let me just say iTunes 7.0 is the crap. Editing album and track information is harder, the songs are played with annoying scratches, it sometimes crashes. I had a problem with syncing music because the settings I thought I knew had its interface changed. This software feels rushed. Yes, that album cover library thing is very nice, and "album artist" fields make much more sense, but I expect 7.0 to be followed with some point-updates.

This iPod better last me 2 years. The 3G still works, but I had to baby it. Here's to hoping.

(edit: the conventional Internet wisdom names this a 5.5 generation iPod. So be it.)