Apple iPod Touch / 16GB / 1st Gen

Got mine today and all I can say is WOW. This looks amazing and is very easy to use. The only slight draw back is there is no radio and the radio adaptor that used to work with my Ipod video does not work with this. Final thoughts- highly recommended.

As seems to be the done thing, I too am writing this review on my new iPod Touch. After pointing Windows towards the correct driver location, syncing my pics, music and videos, I sat down to play with my new toy.

I can't rate it highly enough. Wi-fi setup was a breeze and I was surfing in seconds. Using your finger to browse through your files is simple and intuitive - you might do the wrong thing once, but you'll always be right on the second attempt.

The screen is bright and responsive, the web browser is surprisingly good in such a small device, the onscreen keyboard, whilst a little small in the upright mode, is perfect in widescreen mode - and I have fat fingers!!! You can see I'm under no pressure to keep this review short either!

Whilst this is an expensive unit, it is excellent value for money, especially considering it's about the same price a the 80gb video iPod when it first came out.

Having been an ardent anything-but-iPod advocate in the past, I applaud Apple for this magnificent technological feat, which they have wrapped in the prettiest possible packaging.

i just got my ipod touch the other day and it is by far the best ipod yet! .. you dont get bored of it because it has so many features! well worth £270.. the back scratches easily but the screen is just total scrathcproof.. i put a blade over the screen because i seen a video where somebody did that and not one scratch on it.. it would be good if it had a set of speakers built in like the iphone... but i recommend the ipod in ear headphones which are around £25 rather than the original headphones that come with it!...

My old MP3 player was a Sony NW-A3000, and although still working did not offer much beyond quality top-quality music, and a removable storage drive facility. I brought an IPOD Touch to replace the aforementioned player and instantly fell in love with it. The interface is incredible although I was frustrated with sticky finger marks over the screen, and the fact that the back of the player gets damaged if touched by anything other than your hands (these problems can be resolved by using protective cases & screen protectors) were. However when I used the player to listen to music I was instantly disappointed. The sound quality made my ears hurt and I found that I was not enjoying music in the way I usually do. I returned the player and received a replacement. Sadly the replacement was the same and the sound was still poor even though I was using a top of the range pair of headphones. I am aware that IPOD sound quality is not perfect, but being used to top quality sound meant I could not feel content with this player. I have now returned my IPOD touch and have gone back to using my Sony player again (my ears feel better already). The sound quality is a real same as putting this fact aside the IPOD Touch is wonderful. However as an MP3 player I found it to be below par. One tip I can offer users is that I had already converted films for my Sony Erickson P990i and found that these all worked fine on the IPOD touch and took very little memory space (although the sound quality was not good when turned up loud but was fine if played at a low-medium level). Therefore it may be worth experimenting with different video conversion methods as this makes a world of difference in terms of the low memory issue.

This is my review of the iPod Touch. Firstly, let me say how thin this thing is - it's even slimmer than the iPhone - but it still has a sense of being solid and well built. With a glossy black face and a mirrored metal back it continues the typical iPod quality feel. Where this one differs from the rest of Apple's offerings is in its outstanding range of capabilities. Not only can you listen to music, view photos and watch movies, but now you also have access to the internet via wifi, you can download songs straight to your iPod, surf Youtube, check weather, mail, stocks and even find your current position on Google maps. I found setting up a wifi connection and the Mail application both surprisingly straightforward. It's also worth noting that the Safari web browser coupled with the Touch's famous "Multi-Touch" display is simply the best portable internet I have ever used. It runs quickly, smoothly and is a joy to use. However, the most important part of any iPod is the sound quality and this one does not disappoint. If you have music encoded with a decent bit rate you will be in sonic nirvana. However, I have found that the audio equaliser settings make the music sound artificially coloured and are very much best left alone. To really enjoy your music you will have to buy a new set of headphones, as the earbuds that come with the Touch are quite frankly useless. If you upgrade to a quality pair, you'll kick yourself if you ever considered using the Apple ones - the difference in audio quality is that obvious. In fact, Apple have been very stingy with the included accessories - there's no cradle, just a lead to plug to you pc, there's no case to keep the iPod safe in, there's no AV kit to plug into your TV, you have to buy that separately too. But the one that gets me the most - if you want to charge to thing, you better have a computer nearby, because you have to charge it with the USB cable. If you want to charge it by mains, you have to buy a separate charger. I spent £250 on an mp3 player and it doesn't come with a charger? Ridiculous. Another thing that is tight is storage space. 16GB is not much these days, and the 8GB version wouldn't even hold all my music never mind photos and videos. However, there is a reason for the small capacity - the data is stored on flash memory, which is expensive to produce in high capacity, but has the advantages of being lighter, less power hungry, smaller and more shock resistant than a hard disk player (like the iPod classic). The small amount of space may be a deal-breaker for some, but personally I find 16GB is ample - just don't expect to put your entire DVD collection on it.

If you only want an mp3 player for music and videos, then this one is not for you. There are many higher capacity and lower priced alternatives out there. However, if you are likely to want some internet or mail capabilities on a portable device in addition to music and video then the iPod Touch is hard to beat. It simply exudes quality, but this quality comes at a price. It's not for everyone, but it is for me!