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WTF? Why do these dudes try so hard to find fault. Especially when it's based on personal preference.

Looser.

MW= job as in it's you job to do it when MS is paying......

Macs used to go without physical volume controls. That took Apple years to concede.

This guy's daily life must be hell. Eveything must be so irritating and difficult.

It's really hard to believe Edwards has anything to do with review ing products of any kind. Obviously a hit-whore article.

So by his logic, my car sucks because it doesn't fly and it doesn't drive itself.

"Borders on the ridiculous" is an understatement.

I'd rather *not* have crummy built-in speakers that I'd never use because they'd sound like ass. And who needs a companion's advice on whether to buy a song? What a tool.

Not having a volume button on the iPod Touch IS a design flaw. You can't turn the volume down without taking it out your pocket. Unlike the iPod which has that lovely wheel.

The iPhone has volume control buttons, so why not the iPod Touch?

To be fair, a built-in speaker WOULD be nice. But so would be a built-in camera. But neither belong in a personal Mp3 player.

As for the volume control, I do wish it had that, but you can always add one yourself with a headphone cord with one integrated into it. It's not ideal since you end up with two volume controls, but if you set the iPod one to maximum, and then adjust with the second one, it works. And better yet, it doesn't require that you unlock the iPod or anything.

" And who needs a companion's advice on whether to buy a song?"

Ditto. I don't know if ever in my life I've asked for advice on such a life-changing decision as should I buy this song. Sounds to me like he's just a guy who doesn't want anyone else using his earphones.

Look for a volume control in the next or subsequent rendition of this player. Apple has become a master at not "giving away the store" when introducing new products.

The problem is this:

iTMS songs are recorded at different volume levels, so when a person makes a playlist of mixed songs from different albums, the volume level changes from song to song.

Sound Check doesn't work worth a damm and burning this mixed playlist to cd just continues the problem.

So people need to constantly change the volume level when they get "blasted" by a loud song or turn up the volume on a soft song.

The solution is to alter the music files with software that will adjust the volume equally.

The only software I'm aware of that does this is Mp3Gain (does ACCGain too). However the files must be first made into a uncopyprotected format. Preferably Mp3.

So the iPodTouch doesn't have a manual volume adjustment, which is a glaring oversight on the part of Apple.

If you really want to remaster your music, put together a cd's worth of a great playlist in high quality Mp3, run Mp3Gain on a copy of the files in the playlist to level the volume, then play that music using the VolumeLogic iTunes plugin through the optical out into another Mac with the optical in to record into Mp3.

You'll get a fantastic sounding set of songs.

Even better if you stick to Mp3 Cds, provided you have a Mp3 cd player in your car or dj setup. This will hold about 100-150 songs depending upon the original AAC file size.

It's LOSER, not looser.

The funniest part of the article was when he was disappointed that you couldn't download video over wireless direct to the Touch? Let's see, 4 megs vs 400 megs which one is better do download to a mobile device. I don't know about you, but I don't plan to be in coffee shops long enough to download 400megs, and I certainly don't want to use all of my battery life downloading one video.

Perhaps Ed was paid by Redmond to report in such a fashion - Don't assume M$ would never do this - they do it quite often - and still we dominate them.

I rarely have volume issues like you describe. However, you can just alter the few "culprit" songs within iTunes itself. What you describe is NOT a global problem.

I'll give you a fault: as with the iPhone, it's a pain in the neck to scrub through a sound file.

hah.

I just bought a top of the line 24" iMac on the card, eh? But the same card's no good for an iTunes account due to cross-border eligibility restrictions. So, if this dude is correct .. no iTunes account, no iPod Touch for me .. it would seem.

hmmmm

I'm glad it doesn't have a built-in speaker so I'm not forced to listen to ther people's music when I don't want too. The next horror movie will be "Flakes On A Plane" where everyone will be subjected to 30 different raps simultaneously.

MW: music - as in the sounds from your MP3 player aren't necessarily music to my ears.

The iPod touch does have a speaker

Only 16 GB is the 'fault'

About speakers:

So far as I am concerned, Steve Jobs' greatest humanitarian act has been to free us all of the tyranny of boom boxes. Since the iPods came out, I haven't see (or heard) nary a one.

Maybe we can convince the Norwegian parliament (or the Swedish one, whoever) to come up with an Noise Abatement Nobel Prize. Steve should get it.

Do any of the iPods have a built-in speaker? No, did anyone complain before? No. The only reason why it seems like a speaker is missing is because the iPhone has a speaker.

Thank you! If more people weren't so loose with the language than we wouldn't be in danger of losing it.

The main fault with the iPod touch is that it isn't a Zune. Apple clearly tried to imitate the Zune on many levels and failed—but that was to be expected. Apple doesn't have the mad hardware design and human interface skills that have put Microsoft rightfully on top. They've earned it.

I think this puts Apple in a precarious position. Microsoft is coming out with another magnificent Zune—who thought you could improve on perfection?—and Apple is once again left scrambling. Cupertino has played their cards with their "me too" MP3 players and Redmond is ready to pounce on the feeble, poorly implemented iTunes/iPod disaster. Nice try, Apple, but you lose again.

Your potential. Our passion.™

It is not easy to be an "independent" journalist on the payroll of redmond these days. I love this device more than any other.Typed on my Ipod Touch.

If the idiot wants to listen with a friend he can give them one of the earbuds. If they are worried about cooties then they aren't a real friend, so screw 'em.

kaekae,

But what if the videos could begin to play after you download a certain amount of data? Hell if not I could always just let it download in the background while I do other things.

Video on the iTunes WiFi store is a must. I could see myself blowing countless money downloading TV shows and maybe a movie or two on the fly. It would be great at keeping the iTunes/iPod system ahead of the competition.

I can see it this time next year with a 32gb iPod touch, iPhone, Newton, Mac portable, whatever new hardware Apple's got up its sleeve.

Oops - he said companion. Not the same. Never mind.

The main problem with the Touch is that its screen is ideal for movies, but its storage is ideal for music. Doh. Basically it's a glorified nano.

I almost bought an iPod touch, but I realized that it didn't have a camera. I'm waiting for them to put in a phone, that's what I want out of it. Speakers would be nice, but they're not a big selling point to me.

Gripe, Complain, Gripe, Complain-------

I think that says it all.

Zune Tang-

Do you or have you ever worked for a political party? If not, you should apply.

Your ability to keep the shine on a turd is outstanding.

@bob

"The main problem with the Touch is that its screen is ideal for movies, but its storage is ideal for music. Doh. Basically it's a glorified nano."

Given the small size of movies in iPod format, I think that unless you have a lot of music (like 10GB or more) you still still have plenty of room for movies. After all, it's not as if you need to store your whole movie collection on you iPod.

Just like a couple of thousand other dumb-asses I have had the dis-pleasure of meeting, Edwards did not read the manual.

Such fools come in to the store and claim that their products "don't work" or are "defective."

Must be related to Zune Tang.

Zune Tang: Nice try, Apple, but you lose loose again.

i honour of this thread ... fixed that for you ZT.

p.s. - no mention of Zune Points? I call shenanigans on this impostor. Bring back Sputnik .... errrr .... the real Zune Tang

yeesh ... you spend all that time closing your tags and then make a silly typo.

That should be "in honour" not "i honour"

Actually, my friend, Zune Tang was right - it should be "lose again". Lose is a verb, loose is an adjective (as in, "these jeans are too loose").

Critics are paid to be critical, that is, to find fault. MDN is just overly defensive as usual. I'm starting to think the folks at MDN have some kind of inferiority complex.

Any idiot can do a glowing review of the iPod touch.

It takes a real pro to find major problems with the little marvel.

Critics should find faults, not relate about their tastes which is what MDN was actually pointing out. If your read MDN comments: "And, lest you think that we believe the iPod touch is perfect, we also would have liked to see dedicated physical volume buttons on the touch for manipulating levels without having to take the device from your pocket."

Which is probably all you could say as 'faults' with the iPod touch. The rest, lack of camera, lack of external speaker, disabled automatic sync if you check the "manual sync", that is if you disable automatic sync...

The above is not a critic's article, it is a coffee-table chat from your moron friend Joe-6-Pack trying to bash you on your latest purchase, all while he's burning with envy.

tastes are fine to be reported but should be clearly state as such, otherwise you sound, and rightly so, a moron. Who cares if you would have preferred a camera on the iPod, this is your liking, not a defect or a fault in the design like in "I have attention disorder deficit and can't focus more than 20 seconds. All while I am listening to my favorite tune I suddenly have the urge to take a picture. Why the damn iPod touch does not allow me to do it?"

It is not a fault in the iPod touch design. From my perspective, even a camera on a phone is just a gadgetry: Those pictures are worthless in terms of quality, which is my quality personal appreciation. For others they are OK: I would buy the phone model WITHOUT camera if that would lower the price and if it was available. I hate to pay for something I know I will not use.

I can understand why the iPhone may need an external speaker, because sometimes you need to use hands-free to speak to people.

But the iPod touch... why on earth would you have one?

Makes no sense.

If you're watching a movie or listening to a song, I don't want to hear it whilst your doing that on a bus or the next cubicle of the toilet.

I have an iPod Touch and the single biggest gripe I have is that it is the only iPod (not counting the iPhone which is in a class of its own) to not allow Disk Use. As I have used every iPod I have ever owned to hold a select but important number of documents and templates and other data this is a major drawback for the way I work.

Now if I want to use the Touch to listen to or watch while commuting I need to also carry a more conventional USB Memory gadget. This is pointless redundancy and a step backwards. It is no use saying why not use .Mac as most corporate firewalls where I work would exclude .Mac and iDisk from being accessible whereas selected USB devices (and their users) can be cleared for use on the local desktop.

C'mon SJ, give us back our Disk Use on both the Touch and the iPhone.

I also think (and this is not a gripe) that the micro switch on the iPhone ear buds that allows pause and skip to next track would be great on all iPods.

iPodTouch...

My experience with mp3gain was it took away a lot of the 'oomph' or bass from a lot of the 'heavier' tracks. Whereas making seemingly no difference to the softer songs. I was listening to an ACDC track and it just sounded flat and lifeless and realy needed to be cranked up a notch but I was at full volume. In the end i decided Tori Amos will always sound quiet next to Motorhead anyway. So rather than ruin the music (some say having them at 128k is bad) i've stopped using it.

I wish recording studios would somehow standardize the way they make the music, especialy with volume level.

perhaps apple can add volume control on the headphones (ex. a little button like the iphone headphones)? that would keep the design of the touch the same.

Nothing is perfect, problem is MDN is so far up Apples ass it can see otherwise

Hopefully an iPod Touch Hard Disk version will be out soon and they can correct all the initial faults in the iPod Touch when they do that product.

to tastes: I did say not having a camera was a fault in the product, merely that it's what I'd like to have in it. True the pics wouldn't be great but I like taking shots of places and people as I'm out and about. It's fun, and that's what the iPod touch should be about. That doesn't sound too mornic to me.

@scottm4321
That's not what the iTouch is for. Get an iPhone or someother cell phone with a camera. No iPod (until the iPhone) has had a camera.



MW-trouble-Putting too many "things" into one device is trouble!

some headphones have volume controls. if it's that important to you to not have to look at your ipod when you adjust its volume, get a set of those.

if apple included built-in speakers on their ipods, people would complain about them sounding tinny or distorted. they'd also bitch about battery life.

i don't see either of these as being a problem. but that's just me.

i bet some clever soul will come along and program something to solve the first problem once the SDK comes around anyhow...

I bought the 8 gig iPod touch a week ago. This thing is amazing! I love the large screen, beautiful GUI, and WiFi. Being able to read e-mail in bed and surfing the Internet with a full browser (Safari) is awesome!

And the iTunes WiFi store is unbelievable! One touch to preview and 2 touches to see the full album list. When you preview, the song number "flips" and a "buffer circle" starts rotating. As the preview plays, the preview circle "fills up" like a stopwatch. When all is said and done, the preview circle flips back to the song number. Forget radio! It's so much fun having access to 6 million song clips anywhere you got a WiFi connection.

And web apps add more functionality and funI http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/webapps/
I played Bejeweled, Sudoku, and Missile Command (yes, I'm old skool). Optimized for the iPod touch's screen.

Believe the hype!