60GB Apple iPod with Video

I bought myself an iPod for Christmas, 5th generation 60GB iPod with Video – black. It’s very nice, smaller and lighter than my wife’s
40GB 3rd generation iPod. The screen is much larger, and is very sharp – photos and videos are plenty clear enough to watch comfortably on the 2.5″ screen.

I really like the black version – looks much better than the traditional white iPod I think. I’m a bit disappointed that they only shipped it with the white ear-bud style headphones, and not new black ones to match – something I think they ought to do. No matter anyway, I often use my Sennheiser PX200 Headphones instead – and they look much better with the black iPod.

I decided on the 60GB model, since I wanted not only my entire CD collection on there (about 20GB worth), but I also wanted to start listening to podcasts (great for when you are bored and in a taxi or at the airport or on a plane etc). It’s also great when exercising, you can exercise your brain too!

One of the surprisingly useful features I’ve found is the photo capabilities (which have actually been available for a couple of generations of iPod now). I synchronised several hundred of our most recent photos from our collection onto my iPod, then when we went home for Christmas, I was able to plug it in to the television – via the optional AV cable, sitting on the optional dock, and controlled via the optional remote controller. While televisions are not really high resolution enough to do the photos
justice, it was more than enough for my parents (and my wife’s parents) to be able to see some of our photos – and with the remote control, it made it easy to sit back and narate the slideshow. Worked well!

Of course, why buy an iPod-with-video if you don’t use any video ? I have subscribed to some video podcasts which work well – on a recent flight, I set up the iPod in the dock and placed it on the fold-down tray in front of me, sat back, and watched my own little “TV”, getting quite a few interested looks over my shoulders from people around me. I’m going to have to go through some of the archived TV shows I downloaded from my PVR and convert them for use on the iPod so I can catch up on some of them
on boring flights and such.

The only disappointing thing about the new 60GB iPod so far is the lack of decent cases for it – but I guess that will come in time.