Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26575 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Apple
• Model: New20gbipod
• Released on: 2004-07-21
• Dimensions: 158.00" h x 20.00" w x 20.00" l, .35 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Incorporating the fabulous Apple Click Wheel that was first introduced on iPod mini and offering up to 12 hours of battery life, the iPod continues to define the perfect digital music player for Mac and Windows. Weighing in at just 158 g (5.6 ounces) and getting slightly thinner with each new generation, this fourth-generation iPod offers huge capacity, letting you easily slip up to 5,000 (1) songs into your pocket.

In fact, the new fourth-generation iPod includes features that make it even easier to access -- and have fun with -- your music. Take, for example, the Apple Click Wheel. With the Click Wheel, you can select playlists, scroll through a long list of albums or artists and choose just the song you want to hear without ever lifting your thumb from the wheel. Feel like mixing things up? Now you can choose "Shuffle Songs" right from the main iPod menu. We think you'll also enjoy iPod's long battery life -- up to 12 hours. And with the 25 minutes of skip protection iPod provides, you can jump for joy and the music will keep playing.

A Click in the Right Direction Though ease of use has always been the hallmark of iPod, we believe in constantly moving perfection forward. So iPod now incorporates the same touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that debuted on iPod mini. Without lifting that trusty thumb of yours from the wheel, you can easily select playlists, scroll through thousands of songs, and start the music playing. Want that song to play from the beginning again? A single click will do the trick. Do the iPod Shuffle You can put the Apple Click Wheel to use the next time you want to set your music to shuffle. Right there on the main menu - where it's very easy to find - you'll find a new option - Shuffle Songs. Everyone's favourite option for mixing things up, Shuffle Songs randomly plays songs in a selected playlist or your entire music collection. You'll never guess what's coming up next, so you're always surprised by startling juxtapositions - like a melodic Coldplay song setting up an aria by Caballé. Play Your Music for Hours... and Hours And you can shuffle your way through a lot of songs now that iPod lets you play your music for up to 12 hours on a single battery charge (2). Just imagine: you could fly from New York to Paris and still have hours of listening time left over as you stroll the Champs Elysées. While you're on the move, iPod keeps you aware of its charge level, and when it's time, iPod's quick to recharge. Plug it into your computer or a handy wall socket (via the included power adaptor), and you can fast-charge iPod in as little as 2 hours.

Music and More
But, guess what -- iPod lets you do more than listen to music. Much more. iPod provides you with up to 20 GB of storage. True, you're likely to use a good portion of that storage capacity for your music and audio books, but you're bound to have a little space left over. You can use the FireWire or USB 2.0 cable that comes with iPod to connect the iPod to your computer and copy files. Word documents. Keynote presentations. Excel spreadsheets. Photoshop files. You name it.

Apple's fourth-generation iPod features song shuffling from the main menu, as well as Calendar, Games, and Alarm functionality.

Where am I at 2 p.m. Tuesday? If you've ever forgotten a dental appointment, you'll be pleased to hear that iPod also lets you take your calendar with you. Many applications -- iCal, Microsoft Entourage and Palm Desktop, to name a few -- export calendar files in vCalendar or iCalender formats, both of which iPod supports. Sorry, Wrong Number Little black address books are so last millennium. Thanks to its support for industry-standard vCard files, iPod lets you store and access all your important contact information -- names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses -- with the spin of a Click Wheel. Play Games You know what they say about all work and no play. Navigate to Extras and you'll find Games: Music Quiz, Solitaire, Brick and Parachute, four popular games you can play anywhere (like when you're waiting for the movie to start at the multiplex). Store Text Notes You've got playlists. You've got To-do Lists. And you can carry both with you on iPod. iPod's Notes Reader lets you take text-based information such as news downloaded off the web, stock tips, your workout regimen, restaurant reviews, directions, your shopping list with you on your travels. Just transfer it via FireWire or USB 2.0 to iPod from your computer (Mac or PC).

A Music Store at Your Fingertips
The perfect companion to iPod, iTunes lets you easily build and manage your digital music collection. Since the iTunes Music Store is built right in, you can browse through hundreds of thousands of songs and audiobooks until you find just what you're looking for. Jazz, Reggae, Pop, Electronica, Hip Hop - the iTunes Music Store has it all. And it's open 24/7. All year long. In the US, UK, France and Germany. On both the Mac and Windows PCs.

As for all of those CDs you already own, iTunes makes it easy to quickly transfer your favourite songs and albums. Just pop a CD into your Mac or PC, and click the Import button. You can import music in a variety of formats (such as MP3 or AAC) and at whatever quality level you'd prefer. You can even choose the new Apple Lossless encoder. Music encoded with that option offers sound quality indistinguishable from the original CDs at about half the file size of the original. And with FireWire and USB 2.0 support, you can transfer the music from an entire CD to iPod in just 5 seconds or less.

1. Based on using 128Kbps AAC format.
2. 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

What are you looking for in a portable music player...?
First of all, I'd like to say that I have experience with other MP3 players and as such what I'm saying in this review is pretty much as-it-is - it's not opinion.

When I received my iPod and started using it I was very glad I'd chosen it over the Creative Zen or iRiver alternatives. These competing products, that although do have some features that the iPod does not have, such as an FM tuner, don't really compete with the iPod in turns of usability and style.

The iPod is sleek, thin, light and you have a great user experience with it. The controls are spot on, and even my friends who aren't technically minded have figured out how to use it without any help. The other side of the user experience is the software side of things. The iTunes software (which is free and included with the iPod) is so easy to use. You pop a CD automatically finds the names of the tracks and starts importing the songs onto your computer. Plug an iPod in and it starts transferring songs - you don't even need to press a button! Also, by default, iTunes imports songs in the AAC format, which is better quality than MP3 files and takes up less space, so you can store more songs on the iPod! The final good point of iTunes is that it's also a music shop, which allows you to legally download songs at a price of 79p (I think) per song.

A friend of mine has a Creative Zen, and I was using it when making my decision about which music player to play. The Creative Zen is just bulkier than the iPod and just isn't as easy to use. The only real advantage of the Creative Zen is that it was considerably cheaper than the iPod, but in its 4th Generation Apple have slashed the iPod prices which brings this price gap down considerably.

The battery life of the iPod is not as good as its competitors, but it's fine for anyone other than die-hard music fans. I usually get 2/3 days out of it before needing to do a (very fast) recharge. I've used it on long travel trips too, and it's lasted me from leaving the house to arriving at the hotel many countries later.

Finally, it's also good to note that Apple has a track record of providing fantastic customer support - a service I haven't needed to use yet, but is reassuring in the event of something going wrong.

Ultimately, it's all down to your preferences. Personally, I'd recommend an iPod but if, for example, listening to the radio is very important to you then maybe you should consider other alternatives.

Get it Quickly!
The iPod really comes of age....now the battery will last you a full 12.5-14 hrs of continuous playtime (for all old owners this is an unarguable advantage!) with the battery meter giving accurate readings as opposed to the previous random values. I don`t know how they did this as effectively doubling the battery life is amazing and even more so when you have had to put up with the pitiful powerlife of the 3rd gen.

The other feature improved (?) the clickwheel is a mixed blessing but it is certainly more convenient to use than the old buttons. You still also have the touch scrolling function for selecting tracks/menu features etc.

I also think the new charge from USB 2.0 is a really handy function and does away with the need to buy a dock (not included)as you can sync and charge from one cable (which is included) and also does away with the charger.

The other minor menu changes are too insig to bother or get excited about but having owned a gen3 and gen4 I can now at least listen to my iPod for a decent time before it needs recharging....and less charge cycles means longer battery life!!

P.S. do not be fazed by lack of accessories. The remote is worthless and the Apple case likewise (they have done customers a favour by doing away with these and reducing the price) If you really want a dock for charging/syncing/storage then buy one from Apple.

The Ultimate Truth about Ipods.
I got my ipod (the new generation with the click wheel) about three months back and was not entirely sure what i was getting myself into. Knowing almost nothing about MP3s and how they worked, the ipod was a breath of fresh air and was (and still is) very user friendly from the off set. Importing songs onto your computer via the software provided couldn't be easier. On my notebook, it took less than a minute to import , say a CD with 16 songs on it. I fail to understand why the other reviewers had such problems with it.

The overall interface is extremely user friendly. You can access your music via Playlists, artists, genre etc. Very, very cool and
fail proof.
The itunes store was a bit touch and go for me, unless you are looking for that one elusive song that you cannot find anywhere else, or say if you want to buy just one single, paying 79p is fairly reasonnable. and the ipod is really tough as well, despite it's fragile looks. I was running down the escalator in the underground and I lost grip and it fell from the top of the escaltors to the bottom, a dent and a few scratches resulted but it still works brilliantly.

One problem I had with the ipod though is this (I think I'll probably be echoing the sentiments of ipod owners everywhere), the battery does, Yes it DOES die down after 10-20 charge cycles. And fully charged, you are probably looking at 3-4 hours of continously play before it runs down completely.

If you are in the market for an mp3 player and you are a complete novice, get an ipod. With the price down, there's no better MP3 player to get your hands on.