Apple iPod touch 16 GB (2nd Generation) [Previous Model]
by Apple Computer
![Apple iPod touch 16 GB (2nd Generation) [Previous Model]](/images/Apple-iPod-touch-16-GB-2nd-Generation-Previous-Model-B001FA1NZU-L.jpg)
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Our Price: $394.50 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $109.99 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod touch 16 GB (2nd Generation) [Previous Model]
Customer Review: Only lasted a week...
Summary: 2 Stars
So I bought an iPod Touch 2nd gen 16G for my fiancee's birthday. I bought it from apple because they have free shipping and free engraving. It was also the same price as Amazon. Anyway, I was very impressed by Apple to begin with because the iPod was shipped from Alaska to my home in Jersey in less than two days. So I get it out of the box, and it's a cool new toy at this point, and start playing with it. Programmed it, synced it, photos, videos, wallpapers, album covers, you name it I got it on there to surprise her with it. She loved it from the get-go and started using it immediately. One week to the day I received it, the screen froze and I figured it wasn't a big deal and I reset it. Needless to say, it didn't like that... So, the technical genius that I am looked up and printed every troubleshooting guide I could find. I reset it again and the only thing it would do is tell me to connect to iTunes. And that's exactly what I did. iTunes said that the iPod was in recovery mode and needed to be restored. As anyone with an iPod knows, when you restore an iPod, EVERYTHING is erased. OK... I will take the loss of a few hours and follow restore procedure. I waited an hour for restore to be completed and it wasn't. I unplugged the iPod and started again. Apparently, Apple states that restore can take from 1 to 4 hours to complete. I decided to try and restore again, but this time I waited for 5 hours for it to complete. In the first 5 mins, it looks as though it may work. Restore configures the iPod, creates backup files, updates iTunes and sends the information to the iPod. When the iPod receives the information it needs, the progress bar on the iPod reaches 100% and iTunes displays a message in another window that states "waiting for iPod" with a progress bar underneath the message that stays empty. I don't get it. I tried a different USB cable, reloading iTunes, even called customer support. Customer support said to take it to an Apple store and exchange it for a new one. If I send it out for repair and Apple cannot fix it or if I wanted another personalized iPod, I might get a refurbished iPod in return. Tomorrow I am going to the Apple store and I expect to just get another Touch. I am very disappointed with Apple and I should expect a solution to this problem soon because I have heard that there are many more people with this same problem. If anything changes, I will post another review. As for now, I have a $300 paperweight.Customer Review: Apple iPod Touch 16G (2nd Gen) Lives Up To It's Reputation!
Summary: 5 Stars
Note: The technical aspects of this product have already been well presented in previous reviews on this site. My review comments are directed towards the functional aspects of this outstanding product.
This item was purchased to replace a Dell Axim PDA. We already own an iPhone (1st Gen) which allows us to retrieve e-mails when there is not a "hot spot" nearby. The required functions included e-mail, Calendar, contacts, Internet connectivity and, of course music. It has already exceeded all of my expectations for all of the essential functions, plus more (stocks, weather, maps, and my new favorite Podcasts) The video for Podcasts is impressive, to say the least. It's lightweight and durable easily fitting in to your pocket, purse, laptop bag, or wherever.
The heart of the product's system functionality is iTunes. I did have problems with my PC not recognizing my optical drives after the installation but this appears to be related to a Music Match-iTunes conflict. I went to the support section at the Apple website and located the procedures to go in to the Registry to correct the problem. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2372) I did not have problems with my other desktop PC as I had never launched Music Match on this system. I did not experience a similar problem with Roxio, Cyberlink or Sonic applications.
I would recommend going to the Apple website and reviewing the "User Guide" and tutorials before taking the product out of the box or even better, after you have placed your order with Amazon and are waiting for it to arrive. There are also some helpful videos available.
My only downside comment is for the requirement for a post purchase cost for a protective case (it is essential), an Apple docking station for my desk, and a cigarette light adapter for that on-the-road time. Others may consider these to be optional. The local Apple store nailed me for $112.00 for those items. I'm sure that they may be obtained cheaper elsewhere. I did read in one or two customer comments that some of the knock offs or cheaper versions of car adapters can wipe out your iTouch which caused me to go ahead and spend the big bucks to further enrich Steve Jobs.
Bottom Line - an outstanding product with the Apple world class quality, functionality, and reliability!
Customer Review: an average media player with average sound quality
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my first ipod. All over, it is a well done product. A lot of cool apps to keep you from boredom. But this ipod as a media player...it's just average or even below average in some cases.
My other MP3 player are the Sony Ericsson i750 & Sonly Clie TJ37, they blow this ipod away when it comes to the sound quality. It's hard to believe there's no EQ for ipod Touch, sound quality is flat as the result of all genres play on one flat EQ setting. iTunes 8 is extremely slow on Windows XP doesn't help much neither.
Video is cool, instant access to youtube. Once again, lack of video controls. It only has brightness control, no contrast (I might be wrong on this)
Pro:
- Near perfection integration between iPod & iTune, very easy to use
- Display lyrics on screen (if lyric is loaded on iTune)
- Superb user interface
- Accelerometer really brings fun out of the games, kinda like Wii.
- Supports microphone, which enables to use VOIP such as Skype over wifi
- A tone of cool apps and a tone of junk apps
Cons:
- Too large and fragile to be an everyday portable MP3 player, unless you have a man bag. lol. One drop, it is gone. I've dropped my i750 many times and it still rocks.
- Average sound quality with no EQ support. What is Apple thinking?
- Turtle speed with iTune 8 on Windows XP
- Average earphone
- expensive accessory. $15.00-30.00 for a piece of thin silicon skin that is made in China?
If you want a solid and durable MP3 player, this is not the one for you. But if you want an average MP3 player with lots apps to keep you entertained, then this is a great gadget for you!
Update 3/08:
Good news, it does have an EQ. Bad news, it is buried in the Setting->Music->EQ.The difference between the EQ settings is barely noticeable, it's better than none.
It also a bug, its clock will go crazy when it connects with the PC where iTunes 8 is already running. You have to make sure iTunes 8 is not running on the PC before plug in the USB, otherwise you have to set the clock each time.
Apple, iTunes movie rental is a great idea. But $3.99 for 24 hours on a tiny screen? Hmmm...you should have a 0.99 rental for iphone/ipod touch category.
Customer Review: Overpriced, not user friendly, freezes, and iTunes sucks
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this thing and within the first 10 minutes was ready to throw it out the window. First of all, it took my computer like 3 hours over at least ten attempts to recognize that this pos even existed. I had to format it over and over again brand new out of the box for it to communicate properly with my computer. What is that crap?
Second, I'm not an idiot. I have owned several mp3 players and they have all been as simple to use as dragging and dropping files from my computer to my mp3 player. Not the itouch. No sir. I had to download stupid itunes, which I hate. It makes it nearly impossible to manage playlists, completely impossible to simply transfer music from ipod to ipod, and stupid apple refuses to recognice .wma files (and why would they, its not like the whole effing world uses them or anything) so I had to wait hours for it to convert all my .wmas to .aacs. That's exactly what I want to do when I pay $[...] for something, sit around and wait because of some corporate bs. And it doesn't tell you where they're being saved, so I had no idea it was working, and repeated the process three times and had three copies of everything it converted. Even after deleting the entire folder and redoing it several times, there are invisible ghost files sitting on my computer, taking up gigs and gigs of space. I had three copies of every song saved to my ipod as well, because apple sucks, and as far as I can tell there's no fix for it that doesn't involve me wasting hours and hours of my life.
Now, when using it, it frequently (ten times a day?) gets stuck in the wrong format...landscape or regular...it is NEVER as responsive as they make it look on the commercials. And it FREEZES constantly. At least once a day. WTF? This thing is waaaay to expensive to not work perfectly at least almost every time. And who came up with these battery life estimates? 23-46 hours my arse. I'm lucky to get ten. And if I'm using wifi try 1, 2 tops.
On the plus side, it is pretty. But I am infinitely more happy with my sansa e280 that I paid like [...] bucks for. If I could give zero stars, I would have. I'd return this overpriced piece of crap if one of my "friends" hadn't kiped it from me at a party. Btw, if I find out who you are, you're a dead man. Cheers.
Customer Review: 4 Star Product. 5 Star service.
Summary: 4 Stars
First off, I want to mention Amazon and what a great service they provide. Had a problem that required sending the ipod back and they have already shipped my replacement before I have even packaged the faulty one.
The iPod itself is a very neat product, but I have to warn you that after 5 minutes of itouching, it looks as though you have gone into battle with it. A case is without doubt a must, but unlike it's predecessor the 2nd generation model sports a volume button on the side, which although a great advantage (albeit very tricky to use along with the power button), you need to make sure it's not a 1st generation case otherwise you lose access.
The screen though is another matter. If you carry out a search online, you will find plenty of videos that show how tough the screen is even using keys and a razor blade.
In the past, rather than carrying around my laptop, I have used the PSP for Wi-Fi when going into my local coffee shop. No more though, the iTouch just blows it away for speed and I can retrieve e-mails that I have going to Outlook Express or whatever else you care to mention.
The touch part is really intuitive and rarely makes mistakes even with a screen protector. Turn the iPod on it's side and the page automatically adjusts to the wider width and you can increase the picture size with no difficulty at all. I actually find that it's easier to use this little beauty than using my main computer at home.
Obviously, the Achilles heal for the iTouch is it's storage capacity and one surprising disadvantage is that there are no expansion slots. Secondly, there's no way to remove the battery so you are power limited meaning that watching videos on a trans-Atlantic flight for example, may leave you short (it's video time is about 6 hours according to official specs).
Having said that the iTouch & iPhone are the bench mark for the portable market. Just go to any cellular store and see their clones (Instinct, Voyager anyone?).
One last thing to mention is the interface with your PC or Mac. The iTunes store is just amazing and there is nothing out there that even comes close to the library of iTunes (legally that is). Unlike the Zune, there are no monthly fees and once you download the music, it's yours.