Apple's iPod does Windows almost as well as it does Macintosh

By Gene Steinberg
Gannett News Service

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Top-selling mp3 players Here are the top-selling digital music players as of last week. 1. Creative Nomad MuVo (128 MB) $159 2. iRiver SlimX iMP-$149 3. Bantam Interactive Explorer BA350, $199 4. Archos Jukebox Recorder 20, $319 5. Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 (20 GB) $399 6. Sonicblue Rio Volt SP250 $199 7. Apple iPod (10 GB, Windows) $399 8. Sonicblue Rio 800 (128 MB) $170 9. Apple iPod (10 GB, Mac) $399 10. Apple iPod (20 GB, Windows $499 Source: C|NET ShOPPER.COM

The release of a genuine iPod for Windows (www.apple.com/ipod) changes that with a solution that Apple claims works as well on PCs as it does on Macs. We took the new iPod for Windows out for a spin to find out how it compares to its Mac cousin.

The Windows iPod is essentially the same as the Mac edition except for the software. It's just four inches high, 2.4 inches wide, and weighs less than seven ounces (except for the high-end version, which weighs a few ounces more). The original model with a five-gigabyte hard drive sells for $299. A 10GB version tips the scales at $399. The top-of-the-line model, with 20GB storage and an advertised capacity of 4,000 songs, sells for $499. The 10GB and 20GB models also include a remote control and handy carrying case.

The large liquid-crystal display gives clear, sharp readouts of player status. The big scroll wheel and circular buttons make operation easy and intuitive. The tiny earbud headphones sound crisp and clean, with surprisingly good bass for their size.

Apple's reputation for ease of use remains largely untarnished in the Windows version. Just install the software from the CD and, in minutes, you'll be ready to download your tunes to your iPod. Here you'll appreciate the advantages of FireWire over the slow Universal Serial Bus 1.1 protocol used by other jukeboxes. You can download hundreds of songs to the iPod in just minutes, rather than hours.

We set up the iPod on a Dell Inspiron 8200 laptop and a Gateway Profile 4 XL, and it ran flawlessly.

Like the Mac version, you also can use the iPod to store your personal contact list. Just save your contacts as vCard files (mail and address book programs do this), set up the iPod to run as a hard drive and copy them over. You also can use the iPod's extra storage capacity to double as a backup hard drive.

Windows trade-offs

Moving the iPod to the Windows platform involves some trade-offs, though, because Apple no longer controls the hardware.

For one thing, not all Windows PCs have FireWire connections, so you may have to buy an adapter. These plug-in cards cost between $30 and $100, depending on the number of FireWire ports and whether the card is for a desktop or laptop. Second, not all FireWire is created equal. Some PCs, such as Sony VAIOs, have the tiny four-pin FireWire ports, which work fine when transferring music to an iPod, but they can't recharge the unit while it's connected to the computer. You're forced to use the provided AC adapter instead. If you have a choice of FireWire, look for the 6-pin variety. Apple includes adapters for both four- and six-pin FireWire ports.

In addition, a Sound Check feature, which lets you automatically adjust volume so you aren't deafened by a loud song that follows a soft one, doesn't transfer to the Windows platform. MusicMatch's similar Sound Leveling feature doesn't function either, at least with the first release of iPod software.

Also, Windows users have to work with different software to manage music libraries. Apple's slick iTunes is for Macs only. Instead, Apple licensed one of the most popular Windows jukebox applications, MusicMatch Plus 7.1. But Windows users get an advantage, because MusicMatch Plus

lets you do neat things such as creating decorative CD labels when burning tunes onto a disc. With iTunes, you need to reach for a marking pen to label your CD compilations or buy another piece of software.

On the other hand, the latest iTunes has its own bag of tricks, such as the ability to put star ratings on your music, sort tunes by such categories as most recently played and even record audio books from Audible.com.