a sweet Nano review: iPod Nano G5 and A Little Snow Fairy Sugar

(tags iPod, hardware, Sugar)

I did update my iPod to the Nano "generation 5". Orange, neck strap, grippy case.

I've been rewatching A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (ちっちゃな雪使いシュガー). I have not seen yet my favorite anime facial expression, which could be summed up as \(>.<)/ . I don't miss a thing.

ipod (non-) lust 2008

(tags hardware, iPod, iTunes)

I am so glad that the iPod product announcements are like clockwork, come every September. I know exactly when my iPod becomes a lemon.

This new round of iPods is not very interesting, but I had a chance to sample them at a store recently. I first thought I would gravitate toward the new "classic" 120GB, but I feel bogged down by the weight. I dig the motion sensor of the slim iPod Nano, and I tried the shake-to-shuffle feature. You can't turn the shuffle off that way, it seems. Plus rotating to Cover Flow and other spirited animations makes me say "Shiny!". I did forget to sample the iPod Touch. I think its the price that puts me off.

Anyway, I'm going to try to go another year without an upgrade. I hope that solid state discs (SSD) tech will reach the size of my library, which is now about 60GB full of mostly 160 kbps MP3s. Anyways, that would make my current iPod 5.5gen almost two years old. AppleCare on it is almost expired. Adding bluetooth makes it somewhat feel new again but battery life is abysmal.

This iPod news has made me re-stitch some cover art for my ripped CDs. I found this great blog for anime related CDs scans. Strictly 600 by 600 pixel samples. I'm going to keep an eye on it.

And iTunes 7.7 is frustrating. I know iTunes 8 is out but the software quality on these Windows releases make me pause. 7.7 seems stop ripping my CDs if I click on the window while it's ripping. WTF, this is totally unlike the previous versions. I want to downgrade, and yes Old Versions of iTunes for Windows will work nicely. Actualy this is the only quibble I have. It's still slow and unresponsive, but my data seems safe and not corrupted (knock on wood).

No cable, Bluetooth life

(tags hardware, ipod)

I've been recently in a Bluetooth mood (because of my new computer, but that's for another post). I bought a Bluetooth keyboard, a Filco mechanical touch keyboard (which again I should talk about in another post). Before that, I already had a Bluetooth-capable mouse, the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000. I bought another USB-to-Bluetooth transceiver just for my desktop machine by "PCI". And now, I've really caught Bluetooth fever because I bought a headphone receiver and a iPod-to-Bluetooth transceiver.

First off, my "home" Bluetooth network looks like this:

headphones <-> Sony receiver <-> Bluetooth transceiver <-> Project Sugar PC running iTunes

First off, the Sony receiver is the Sony DRC-BT15 (white) "for music". Basically its a Bluetooth audio sink supporting A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) and AVRCP (Audio Video Remote Control Profile) with some cell phone integration capabilities such HFP (Hands-free profile) and HSP (Headset Profile). There was another series with the model number DRC-BT15P (P?!?) which is aimed at only cell phones but I couldn't tell the difference between the plain and the P version. In any case, I had to charge it up (1 hour), then connected it to my stereo buds. I tried it out with my Project Sugar desktop PC with no problems. Just remember to press the power button 7 seconds from cold start to start the pairing process. It comes with this white-violet LED that looks really cool. Anyway, Bluetooth is mainly line of sight, so I had to move the PC based USB-to-Bluetooth transceiver "nub" to a fairly central position. It's great, I can move to my kitchen or even the bathroom without any interruption. If there is interruption, the music just cuts off digitally, not like the only weak analog signal of old. Other than that, I really like the relative lightness of this headphone set.

My iPod Bluetooth network looks like this:

headphones <-> Sony receiver <-> Sanwa transceiver <-> iPod 5G (with video)

Second, I tried out the Sanwa Supply ipod-to-Bluetooth receiver (MM-BTAD10, white). Stupid Sofmap store only had black, so I had to run to Yodobashi Camera to get the white version. Pairing consists of connecting it to the iPod and pressing play. Pretty straightforward. Aah, my iPod is now wireless. It feels like a remote control now. Unfortuately I had to cut my iPod skin in order to snugly fit the tranceiver to the body. I worry that this will break off the dock connector.

So I have these wireless audio headphone set. I binded the headphone wires with that reusable hollow electric cable wrap (only 4.1mm in diameter) so my neck doesn't look too wired, and I clip the Sony reciever to it. It's not too heavy but it looks like crap. Oh, did I mention that I only use 2000 yen in-ear buds, with the wire wrapped up and over my ear cartilige so that it hangs over the top of the ear? Totally sweet. Only that the receiver has a battery life of 6 hours. Damn Sony.

Erecting walls, bouncing off/through them: Peggle

(tags game, iPod)

Back when I was in the States earlier this year, my mum introduced me to Peggle, the PopCap game. It was gosh darn fun, and even my cousins were lining up to play. So when I saw that it was on the iPod for "only" 600 yen, I considered it.

But I'm trying to stop the flow of money spending so I sent my mom an email about it before whipping out the credit card. But thinking it through, even if she says its not worth it, I'll probably get it because I think the control will be good on this.

And as an aside, I see that PopCap Games are having a half-off sale. Hm. HM.

fear the digital contents: iTunes/iPod misbehaving

(tags music, iTunes, ipod)

I was about to rip Apple a new one, because the games I bought for my iPod more than a year ago didn't sync. I think it had something to do with a firmware update that I've been prolonging. But later on this week it fixed itself. It probably had to do with me manually authorizing this computer.

Cold shower on iPod lust: iPod Classic 160GB and iPod touch

(tags music, hardware, iPod)

Its been almost a year since I got my second iPod (5.5gen, 80GB). Today Apple announced the new iPod line up and it's hard not to ignore.

The iPod Classic (Engadget) has two improvements for me, the 160GB size and the Cover Flow. Not much, eh, since my library is only 52 GB.

The iPod Touch (Engadget) seems pretty cool. I would use the WiFi and Internet browser. 16GB is a disappointment however. The screen is only 89 mm but has a higher resolution than the PSP (480x320@160dpi vs 480x273). This is the one I want to buy, but unfortunately, I saw at Sofmap that it will be 48000 yens. Ouchie.

The overriding reason for me to pass on this refresh is that I still haven't my money's worth out of my current one. 43000 + 8000 yen over about 350 days, thats about 140 yen per day for the privilege to own and use an iPod. Besides I'm not using it to the fullest with about 15 GB free on it and no recent video conversions. The battery still works.

See you in a year iPod Touch!

edit: changed title