Specifications

Apple iPod touch
8GB, $299 direct;
16GB, $399
lllll
PROS Beauti-
ful multitouch
display. Wi-Fi
access. Buy
music via Wi-Fi.
Excellent user interface.
Browser is a delight. Ac-
cess to YouTube content.
Thinner than the iPhone.
Double-click for music in
any screen.
CONS Can’t turn off
Starbucks feature.
Can’t get podcasts or
purchase video via
Wi-Fi. Earbuds suck.
For more:
go.pcmag.com/
ipodtouch
APPLE IPOD TOUCH
A New Player Masterpiece
When the iPhone came out in June, many people
(including me) loved it but wanted it without the
phone—and without that pesky two-year AT&T
Wireless contract. With the new iPod touch, the
company has answered our prayers and even added
a Wi-Fi version of the iTunes Music Store. Now you
can download tracks anywhere there’s Wi-Fi.
Apple has announced a partnership with Star-
bucks that enables iPhone and touch owners
to purchase songs they hear in Starbucks stores via
Wi-Fi. It would be nice if the Wi-Fi store offered
video purchases—currently it’s music only. And, yes,
the earbuds still suck. But these are my only com-
plaints, and they’re minor. The relatively hefty prices
don’t bug me either. Why? Because this is probably
the best portable media player ever made.
On the iPod touch and iPhone, navigation of the
music, video, and photo menus is identical, as is
the excellent combo of the multitouch screen and
the Safari Web browser. Both players load and sync
with iTunes and can be managed much the same
way manually. The touch is much skinnier than the
iPhone, however, and that pesky recessed head-
phone jack is gone—as is the ability to send e-mail
(unless you use a Web-based program like Gmail).
The YouTube features are nearly identical, except
that the iPod touch does not allow users to send clip
links to friends.
The excellent Cover Flow, part of iTunes and fea-
tured on the iPhone, arranges albums alphabetically
in a horizontal array using the albums’ cover art.
Double-click for
music controls
Drag your fi nger across the display to slide the cov-
ers, as if thumbing through a virtual vinyl collection.
Clicking on the central album cover fl ips the graphic
over and reveals a music tracklist. From here you can
click on a song and start playing.
The real hero is the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music
store. Searching for artists can be done with the
virtual keyboard or via tabs such as Featured and
Top Tens. Provided that your Wi-Fi signal strength
is decent, downloading a song takes only seconds,
and the track is immediately put into your player’s
library. Next time you plug into your PC, the songs
will transfer to your computer’s library.
I wish Apple would include user-adjustable EQ
settings such as the ones competitors like Samsung,
Sansa, and Sony build into their players. With crappy
earbuds and settings like Jazz and Dance, your best
bet is to leave the EQ off and upgrade your earphones.
I also had hoped you could turn the Starbucks feature
off—you might not want to see a corporate logo pop
up whenever you walk by a store, and you’re even
less likely to share Starbucks’ musical tastes. Again,
these are fairly minor complaints. More signifi cant
gripes? Podcast users will be disappointed that they
can’t get their ’casts via the Wi-Fi store, and the store
doesn’t sell video, either . . . yet.
Whenever Apple releases a new product, “fan-
boys” proclaim it the greatest ever, while “haters”
lambaste the product and the fanboys as well.
This time the fanboys are right: The iPod touch is
amazing.—Tim Gideon
Same display
as the iPhone’s
Headphone
jack is not
recessed
FIRST LOOKS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
34 PC MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 6, 2007