Original Apple iPod 5 GB for Macintosh:

  Apple's iPod is the best music player a Mac owner can buy. Small and fast, with high capacity, superb controls, and a sleek appearance, the iPod combines the best features of a Mac with the best features in Mac OS.

  The iPod's 5 GB hard drive holds 100 hours of high-quality music, and it connects to your Mac via superfast FireWire. We were able to transfer a single CD in about 10 seconds and a full hard drive in 10 to 15 minutes. If you lack a built-in FireWire connector, which all new Macs ship with, you can add a FireWire PC Card to most older PowerBooks or a FireWire PCI card to most G3 and G4 towers.

  Plug the iPod into the FireWire port and the iPod is mounted as a hard drive. The included iTunes 2 software automatically launches and will synchronize your computer's digital audio collection with the iPod. You can also manually manage what files get transferred. The iPod plays the MP3 music format, but it also plays old AIFF and WAV formats.

  The iPod's 10-hour-plus lithium battery also recharges over the FireWire port. An AC adapter comes with the unit for charging away from a computer. The battery recharges to 80 percent of capacity in about an hour, full capacity in about three hours. 

  The iPod has a 32 MB built-in RAM cache that buffers about 20 minutes of music. This is extremely helpful when you're exercising, and it keeps battery life high. When we've used the iPod on long trips and travel about town, it's been hard to run the battery down at all.

  The iPod is simply laid out with five buttons and a shuttle wheel. The interface uses hierarchical menus that you select from by rotating the wheel and pressing the selection button in its center. The LCD screen was also large and easy to read, and it has a backlight nearly as powerful as a flashlight.

  The one slightly vexing interface detail was the lack of an Off button--attributable to the iPod's overall design aesthetic. You won't really need to turn the iPod off, as the unit conserves power when it's not playing. But we did find ourselves using the Hold button often to ensure that we didn't start it playing or stop it playing when transporting the iPod while in use. You can turn it off by simply holding down the play/pause button for a few seconds.

  Apple includes a set of earphones that we felt compared favorably with listening to high-quality speakers in an acoustically balanced room. Volume control, always an important point, is in tiny increments that can be easily set up and down while music is playing. A startup volume level can be preset as well.

  A few provisos: the iPod doesn't come with a carrying case, the stainless steel back collects fingerprints like an overzealous FBI agent, and the plastic front can scratch if you're as careless as we are. Also, the unit's initial release has no balance control (left/right), equalization panel, or monaural setting. Apple does plan free software upgrades for the iPod, which may add these features.

  Considering its range of features and small package, the iPod is definitely a top contender for best Mac add-on. --Charles Kinbote

Pros:

*  High-capacity MP3 player in small package

*  32 MB buffer enables you to use the iPod even when exercising

*  Utilizes FireWire for superfast transfers

*  Automatically synchronizes with your computer's MP3 collection

Cons:

*  Not compatible with Windows (this isn't a negative to Mac owners--it may even be a plus)

*  No equalization or balance settings

Easter Egg: For a special treat, navigate on the main menu to About, then hold down the center select button for a few seconds. Enjoy the game, which is also a tribute to Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Product Description:

  Packing 1,000 songs and a 10-hour battery into a stunning 6.5-ounce package, the Apple iPod is the smallest hard drive-based MP3 player available, about the size of a deck of cards. Just plug it into your Mac and all your iTunes songs and playlists are automatically downloaded into iPod at blazing FireWire speed.

  The 5 GB hard drive stores up to 1,000 MP3 song files (at 160 Kbps encoding rate) and also doubles as disk storage for applications and other files. A high-output (60-mW) amplifier provides CD-quality sound with a wide dynamic range, from deep, pulse-pounding bass to sharp, crystal-clear highs.

  In addition to its 5 GB hard drive, iPod has a 32MB memory cache. The cache is made up of solid-state memory, meaning that it has no moving parts, so it's not affected by movement of the device. Skip protection on the iPod works by continually preloading up to 20 minutes of music into the cache.

  The iPod has a large, high-quality liquid crystal display (LCD) for viewing up to six lines of text. And the LCD features a white-light-emitting diode (LED) backlight for clear visibility in low-light situations--indoors or outdoors. Pocket-sized and just 6.5 ounces, it weighs appreciably less than the stack of CDs it can store music from.

  Featuring Apple's award-winning iTunes 2 software, the iPod can synchronize with newly added music files and playlists. Simply plug the iPod back into your Mac and the changes are automatically updated in seconds. And with iTunes 2, you can rip MP3s, create playlists, and burn custom CDs all from one simple interface.

  Its rechargeable lithium battery is charged using the FireWire cable when connected to your Mac. You can also recharge the iPod using the included FireWire cable and AC adapter when you're on the go.

  The iPod supports MP3 (up to 320 Kbps), MP3 Variable Bit Rate (VBR), WAV, and AIFF files, and is firmware upgradable. To use the iPod with your Mac, you'll need a FireWire port and you must be running either Mac OS 9.2.1 (or later) or Mac OS X v10.1 (or later). The iPod is not compatible with Windows operating systems.

  It comes with earbud-style headphones, a FireWire cable, power adapter, and CD-ROM with iTunes 2. It's backed by a 90-day limited warranty.

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