Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21307 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Apple
• Model: MA002B/A
• Released on: 2005-01-01

Manufacturer's Description

Witness the evolution of the revolution. First it held songs. Then photos. Then podcasts. Now iPod adds video to change the way you experience your music and media. Again. The new lighter, thinner iPod is music to your eyes.

Time for the world’s best music player to take the stage for another encore. Available in two colours, the 30GB (1) model will hold up to 7,500 (2) songs and full-colour album art. Yeah, you’ve heard that tune before. Only now, you can watch it, too. With MPEG-4 and H.264 video support and a 6.35-cm (2.5-inch) colour display, the new iPod lets you watch up to 75 hours of video (3). Oh, and don’t forget your photos. The new iPod stores up to 12,500 of them (4).

More and Less
The new iPod boasts up to 14 hours of battery life (5). Plus, you get a bigger display and one more iPod colour — sleek black. But here’s the kicker: at under one and a half centimetres thin, the new 60GB model is thinner than the fourth-generation 20GB iPod. More features in less space? Sounds like iPod.

Hold Everything
Now you can put all your music in your pocket and still have room for, well, practically everything else. Catch up on your reading with audiobooks. Browse your memories with photo slideshows, complete with music. Watch video podcasts and your favourite music videos. Consult your calendar or look up an email address. Even check the time in another city or time your fastest lap. The new iPod keeps it all close at hand.

Spin some Tunes
The Apple Click Wheel gives you access to your entire music, photo and video library — from one thumb. Control volume and browse using the touch-sensitive surface. Play. Pause. Rewind and fast-forward. Rate your favourites. Create playlists on the go. Launch photo slideshows. The Click Wheel puts everything at your fingertips, so you can keep your eyes and ears on the music.

Sync, Look and Listen
Playing your iPod is only half the fun. Try filling it with downloads from the iTunes Music Store. Choose from over 1.7 million songs, 15,000 podcasts or 1,000 music videos, download them to your Mac or PC and sync them to your iPod. Add an optional S-video cable and use iPod to play VJ on your TV. You can perform the same big-screen feat with iPod photo slideshows. And you can do it from across the room using the optional Universal Dock and handy new Apple Remote.

1. 1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less.
2. Song capacity is based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding.
3. Video capacity is based on four minutes per video and 750-Kbps H.264 encoding combined with 128-Kbps audio.
4. photo capacity is based on iPod-viewable photos transferred from iTunes.
5. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Don't listen to the negative. This is a good piece of kit.
I succumed to getting an ipod after taking my Sony A3000 and Philips Hard Disc player back. Thanks god. This is a great music player that is comparible with the phillips in terms of being able to fit around 7,500 songs on it. I used to have a Sony NW-HD5 which was great, and that's why I went for the A3000, however the Sonicstage software is crap.

Using Itunes you can use the machine as a hard discplayer and with a downloadable application called Sharepod, which you store on your Ipod, you can remove songs to your own computer or even someone else's. This is a great asset, becuase I had to reformat my PC yesterday and this enabled me to preserve my entire music collection and transfer it back to my PC when the reformatting process was done.

If I have any advice, I will say be sure of buying the machine you want. I love this one and have had no problems what so ever. Secondly buy a protective screen sheet and a Rubber Case to protect the case, this will ensure that your beautiful machine stays in pristine condition. lastly buy a car charger if you intend to listen to it when driving and also a mains charger, as the only initial way to charge is through the computer link lead, there is no mains charger. a small price for such a versatile piece of kit.

I would also recommend buyers to buy the new Sony in the ear earphones, with the different sized ear fittings. The Ipod ear phones are uncomfortable, but are necessary when posing around town.

In terms of the battery life, I manageed to drive from Peterborough to Edinburgh and back on a single charge. The key to a longer battery life is to cut the backlight down to 2 seconds and to put everything you are going to listen to on a playlist to avoid the hard disc having to spin up too often.

Finally, enjoy it if you get one. I would recommend it and wish that I had read a review like this prior to buying a new Mp3 player.

V V nice.
I received my white Ipod 30gig yesterday, after waiting about a week for it to come from abroad (china according to the TNT paperwork. I didn't get mine off amazon, but from the apple shop instead (same price but with free laser engraving). initial impressions were good. The box it comes in is very small and sleek. the Ipod well protected within a cut out, and with headphones and the usb data/charging cable. I was a little disapointed that for the money apple don't include an independent mains charger. (still I'm sure apple want to keep their accessories market riding high!). The ipod is very sleek indeed, and the front white perspex finish makes it look very high quality.not to mention the shiny metal backing. latest itunes installed no problem and was ripping my CDs in no time. To get the video working you need to be a little more clued up. First I ripped a dvd to my hard drive (use dvdshrink or dvddecrypter - both free). now, apple's website suggests you purchase apple quicktime pro to create videos (either their own .mov or .mp4), but in theory the ipod supports the mpeg-4 h.264 format, with aac audio -- so you should be able to use ANY program to create this 'standard'(.mp4) format. I used NERO RECODE. i initially had problems where itunes would happily play my recodes, but was refusing to upload them to the ipod, as they were an 'incompatible'format , so i recoded my rips in 320x240 resolution and they worked just fine, nice and smooth. have now got all office series 1 and 2 on there, at 93meg per half hour episode.. sweet. onto other things. the sound of MP3 196kbit sounds bright enough through the ipod head phones, the screen is nice and bright, though scratches easily (i have one already!) and i like the games (solitaire very similar to windows version) nice work apple. (though 4 stars for no mains charger)

Fantastic, but...
Apple's new iPod is better looking, smaller and does more than the 4th Generation version, but it is hardly at the pinnacle of the portable audio/video revolution. As far as portable video goes, you'd be much better off looking at the far superior Archos portable media players. However, If you love listening to music and need to carry your music collection around with you at all times, then nothing combines ease of use, design, sound quality and sheer pleasure of use than the iPod.

There are a few reliability issues with the iPod; it is VERY IMPORTANT that the packaging and receipts are kept in a safe place. The white earphones really do need to be ditched. Their awful, tinny sound quality and uncomfortable fit really do not do the iPod justice. In the £15 - £40 range (depending on where you buy them), the Sennheiser PX-100, PX-200 and the in-ear MX-500s come as highly recommended.

Despite a few let-downs with its reliability, battery life and the fact that Apple really don't want people replacing something as simple as a battery, the iPod really is a fantastic mp3 player. Don't believe the hype though. Hands up if you think it'd be a pleasurable experience to watch a film on a two and a half inch screen...