Customer Reviews
great product, but.....i'm still trying to get mine to turn on.... 
2006-08-06
The Ipod is an amazing device that eliminates the need to carry around thousands of CD's, and allows one to create master mixes of their favorite music. The Ipod Photo even lets you at 25,000 of your favorite photos and place them in a nifty slide show viewer. yes, that's all wonderful and great, but there are some buyer beware issues with the Apple Ipod. First of all, sometimes the Ipod will "decide" to not work properly, i.e the turn dial will not turn, the Ipod will die on its own, the battery won't last that long. I have owned my 30 gig pod for about eight months now and it has acted funny since I got it. I try to take care of it the best that I can, but sometimes it seems that the IPod has a life of its own and can decide when it wants to work and when it wants to take a day off. Still, it's a remarkable piece of electronics and I highly recommend purchasing some kind of MP3 player if you are a jogger, biker or a music collector/lover.
Love it!!! 
2006-06-19
It stores a lot of music and photos, and fits in your pocket. I'm a musician, so I can't live without my music; however, anyone who loves listening to music will enjoy it. As with any other iPod, you can have everything you want to hear, whenever you want it, without carrying CDs. The photo feature is also really cool. I've had it for over a year and it's been working flawlessly!!!
Tunes and Photos on the GO-GO-GO 2006-05-04
Love it- need it- you must have it - a must for people that love thier music want to share photos and present a slide show with family and friends. The 30GB is large enough to accomodate lots of images and tunes. The controls and navigation is simple - build quality is excellent - the color screen is clear and beautiful - well worth every penny.
BUYER BEWARE: these don't last after the arranty expires... 
2006-04-12
My iPod 40GB died within TWO MONTHS of its initial use as Christmas present. The hard drive quit working and just makes little clicking sounds.
My husband's 20GB iPod died within SIX months of purchase. His locks up his computer and won't hold files or play music. He has been sent to "email support" but reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system hasn't helped, so we don't expect much good from that.
Our father in law went through 3 iPods within a year. Similar issues.
These are lovely and useful devices, but TERRIBLE PRODUCT RELIABILITY. None of us used the product while jogging or doing anything else strenuous to the devices.
Two of these iPods were refurbished by HP. That was a terrible product support experience, too.
A tech industry insider suggested that we replace our iPods with the disposable Shuffle - not much functionality, but at least it's just $100 down the drain every year or so -- rather than $200 to $500! We'll also look into the extended warranty... unless we switch away from Apple entirely and re-scan our entire music inventory. (Another recommendation: don't use the Apple proprietary music format in case you experience what we did and don't want to give Apple a second chance afterward.
Buyer beware. These are disposable devices. Handle like glass and don't expect them to last.
iPod - Great toy - Horrible customer service/support 
2006-02-14
The iPod is cool but ours ... as we've found has happened to many other owners ... went on the fritz and our nightmare began. Apple's customer service is the worst CS that we've ever experienced regardless of the product or service supported. I could write for days about the awful experience but I've wasted so much time with them already ... I can't bear to waste more. The most notable point is that the iPod CS folks repeatedly stated that iPods are more or less disposable, commodity items and "breakdowns" were common. Wow!! .. $400 Bucks of throw away!?!?!? We still haven't recieved the return box for replacement/repair after several days even though it was promised in 24-48 hours. We also own an MP3 player that we refer to as a "Dell-Pod" from Dell Computer and have had to use their customer service as well. Dell's CS support was awesome. Based on our experience with Apple/iPod CS support ... this is the first and LAST Apple product that will be owned in our household.
3 Years and Counting -- No Problems 2007-11-24
I've owned my ipod Photo 30 GB for three years now, and the only problem I've really had has been with the original ear buds wearing out. I found OEM replacements on EBay for cheap: they're good enough for me right now.
I am glad I purchased a neoprene case to protect the fragile little whizzer from the get go. I have dropped it a few times, and the case saved its life.
A Good Product Worth Considering if in the MP3 Player Market 2006-11-07
Its true, the 4th generation 30 gig Apple Ipod is a very good product. Is it great? Well, maybe not. But its not that this 4G model does not have every thing that some body wants out of an MP3 player, including video, the ability to hold and show pictures (about 25,000 of them), music (7,500 songs) and a pretty good battery life when listening to music of at least 10-15 hours per charge. When writing a review of any Ipod I believe that you must mention Apple's Itunes software, which make is very easy to buy and download music to your Ipod, that is why it is the industry leader this in regard. Also, the body of the Ipod is very slim, the menu of the device is very easy to figure out even if you have never used one before. Within minutes of turning it on you will be able to understand how to download music, create play lists and arrange your music just the way that you want it. Whether you like the Apple Ipod or not as an electronic device you have to give Apple credit for the fact that it is very easy to use, all the way around.
So, what's wrong with the Ipod? Well, the fact that the battery life on this particular model is very limited when you are watching video on it, about two hours. Also, while the screen of the 4G Ipod is very crisp and clean, it is just hard to view. But then again, a small MP3 player like the Ipod is naturally going to have a small screen, there is really nothing you can do about that, it does though strain your eyes to view the screen for long periods of time. Also, the screen does scratch very, very, very easily. Any thing will do it and I think that it is real down side to this product, it should have made so that any body could be able to carry it in their pocket without worrying about whether the screen is going to scratch or not. That would resemble to me at least that it is a product that is made to last, instead of one that is made to last until next Ipod comes out so that maybe you have to buy another one. I would really recommend that you purchase a protective case for any Ipod that you buy because they all seem to scratch pretty easy.
Having been a fan of Apple products throughout the years I would say that this product is worth a four out of five. I wish that all Ipod came with a home docking station instead of just the USB cable to charge and download music. I think they sell those docks for 20 bucks, but they make them for only 5 in China and it would great if they included that in the package. The sound quality of the Ipod is very good, and it should be for a couple of hundred bucks but if Apple doesn't make some changes to the 6G Ipod which is probably due out right before Christmas 2006 I believe that other players could offer some resistance to Apple's market share. This includes adding wi-fi, maybe a built in satellite radio function, perhaps different colors for the Ipod, touch face design, maybe a wide screen, it has to be some thing to set the Ipod a part from every other MP3 player out there. All coupled with at least 20 hour battery life with music and 10 hour battery life with video, I think that is one thing that every body can agree on.
HELLO 2006-09-16
Theres some problems with it...
Software isent that good, lots problems,I hate usb port carger, runs down Laptop batteries faster
Thinking different is cool, Apple iPod is not. 2006-09-15
I bought a 30G iPod Photo a little over a year ago and was on my second replacement when just recently, outside the warranty (which of course goes from original purchase date, not replacement date), it's kaput again. Now if I have to pay $275 for Apple to fix or replace a three month old player! No way. THREE players on the blink, each after a few months - that isn't just bad luck.
That isn't even mentioning the difficulties with the iTunes software or if you change computers. I get a new PC and have to re-transfer 100s of CDs! How lame. That negates all the convenience of the large capacity (I wish other MP3 players had the storage space the iPods have).
I just can't justify spending more money to replace this limited, inferior POS again. So essentially over the last year I have spent about $1 a day to have a player and now I'm left with nothing. I will be buying a different player. I will spend far less than $275 and get something that will last more than three months, is compatible with the rest of the players in the world and is easy and convenient to load and use - obviously not an iPod! Unfortunately I can't transfer the music I spend hours and hours loading up (over and over). What a waste of money and time.
There is an iPod killer out there 2006-08-15
I had my ipod for 2 months and everything went wrong...Let me start with the:
1) Battery- u need to buy at least 2 more batteries because the battery completeyl drains to where you can't listen to anything anymore. When that happens, all of that precious music that you spent 2 weeks or 2 months downloading is nonexistent, it deletes everything
2) A 30GB holds 7500 songs...I am a proud owner of the Sony NW-A3000 (20GB) it holds almost 15000 songs, that's right, 15000 songs
3) Trying to get support from apple is like being on life support and someone pulls the plug...enough said
4)Using itunes almost made me break my ipod from all the frustration. Sony uses sonicstage and it can be a royal pain to use, but that software compresses the files which give you more space on your player. A LOT MORE SPACE!!!
My Sony HW-A3000 may not hold videos (Which I never watched on my ipod anyway because I work out) or photos (for the same resason) but I've had it for 4 months and only had to recharge the battery completey 10 TIMES! SONY actually got it right this time
There is an ipod killer, it's name is Sony NW-A3000
