After using my new 160GB iPod Classic for about a week, I have noticed that the UI responsiveness of going between menus and loading playlists has gotten more sluggish as I continued to add more songs and podcasts. Although the UI was more sluggish than my 60GB iPod Photo, skipping between songs on the iPod Classic seemed to be much quicker. With my iPod Photo, skipping between songs would have anywhere from a 0.5 to a 2 second delay, while it seemed nearly instantaneous with the iPod Classic. This morning, I read that a software update was made available for the iPod Classic to version 1.0.1, so I downloaded the update through iTunes and installed it. After the iPod restarted, the UI felt a bit more responsive when nothing was playing. I still need to test it while playing different songs of varying bitrates and encodings. Over the weekend, I decided to play with the three included games: Vortex, Klondike and iQuiz. Vortex takes the idea of Breakout or Arkanoid but instead of a horizantal playing field, Vortex uses a circular field which your paddle rides along the edge of a pipe. The game definitely makes better use of the wheel compared to Brick. Klondike is just like any ol' basic Solitaire game that has received a graphical makeover. iQuiz is an updated version of the original iPod Music Quiz game, but adds in questions about music trivia that can be downloaded or created. Also over the weekend, I picked up a Radio Remote so that I can use it to control the iPod in the car (a lot better than having to pick up the iPod and look at it just to skip a song or to go back a couple; not to mention, having FM radio is also helpful in places where I do not have access to radio streams. The only part that I don't like is that it uses the dock connector, so I can't charge and control the iPod using the remote while in the car. Lastly, I stopped by one of the local Apple retail stores to look for cases for the iPod Classic; which they did not have any specific for the iPod Classic and the two that I could try for the 5G iPod, the fit was too snug. I guess I'll have to continue using the loosely fitting case for my iPod Photo. I also checked out the silver iPod Classic to see if the color would look better in person versus in print or on a monitor... I still didn't like the color, at least compared to the classic iPod white or black. More updates to come. |
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