thought of the day: some people i cannot imagine naked (and don’t want to succeed in doing so). then there are those who i cannot imagine getting naked for the sake of pleasure.
some may know that i recently purchased one of the brand new ipods. yes, the video-enabled ones, and yes, the 80GB black one. the battery in my previous white, 40GB, gray-screened one seemed to not be enough anymore for the lengths of time that i needed it to live, and despite my best efforts of having originally waited for colour screens, only to give in a month short of the surprise release of said feature, some of the functionality of the newest generation of ipods is simply something i wanted to experience and share.
so now that i have it… what is to be said of this gadget? after a mostly painless checkout experience on apple.com’s store (i opted for an engraved message on the chromed backside, as well as a tip-in note to myself–intended for gift-giving, but used in mockery to bloat my self-assurance), it set sail from china to the midwest of america… all in 3 day’s time. i have to say the expediency of the standard (free) shipping is astounding. in fact, everything i’ve ever ordered from apple has arrived quicker than expected; and it’s quite possible mine is an isolated–or at least rare–track record for deliveries.
the first thing i noticed is that the new packaging seems roughly half the size of my 40GB’s cubic box (redundancy duly noted); that’s wonderful for someone environmentally mindful like myself. as always, the cleanliness of the packaging and it’s printed design are one of a kind; no other company in the world designs products and packaging like apple. where my last ipod’s box had a slip sleeve featuring bright colours and the iconic dancing silhouettes housing a plain black cube with just the white apple logo, this new packaging has a sleeve reminiscent of collectors edition dvd’s, except roughly the flat dimensions of a cd case, an all black attire, with accents of silver foil instead of plain white. being someone who has in the past year become more aware of packaging and printing technologies, i can definitely appreciate the detail–and glaring lack thereof–in its beauty.
the second thing i noticed was that it seemed almost TOO small. clever inner-box tetris aside, how on earth could they fit all of what i remember in my top-of-the-line ipod into this little package? apple recently reduced pricing on its ipod line by 50$, and while i can’t speak to the immediately preceding models, it became painfully apparent how they did it: by excising the invaluable dock cradle and more importantly, the a/c adapter! two years ago, there was the cheaper 300$ model, and the upper eschelon 400$ version. the more expensive of the two came with a few extras, namely those listed above. the “same” 400$ model i just bought should have continued that tradition; their omission is a glaring one at that. steve jobs said they made the ipods more affordable. “more affordable” or “less functional”? considering i would have to spend 50$ on a new dock, 30$ on an a/c adapter, and in all fairness, my old model came with both usb AND firewire cables, another 20$. so i guess my “cheaper” ipod is really a hundred bucks short, making it 50$ more expensive than my last model by comparison. at least there are cheaper alternatives to these missing pieces, and thank god for my best buy employee discount, accessories purchases are always good to me 🙂
feature-wise, i’m quite pleased with the rather large screen, which is a brilliant little number; suprisingly vivid and sharp. i’ve in the first few hours not watched video footage on it, but simply viewing a variety of album art whilst listening to the songs is both novel and rewarding in its own way. the smaller details around the screen available only because of it’s many colours and extra pixels make quite a difference as well. anti-aliased type, smooth gradients and scrolling text, more visible text, drop shadows, and the game solitaire with full-faced cards in their proper suite hues. the new headphones are slightly elongated, but seem to sound slightly better. granted, i’ve never heard a pair of 150$ earbuds, but to this day, i’ve not heard earbuds sound better with the ipod than apple’s own. the only thing wrong is that they are slippery little devils, and have a nagging tendency to fall right out of my ear, even with little or no provocation. with my last ipod, it came with TWO sets of foam earpiece coverings, which not only aided in comfort by softening the cold metal and hard plastic, but gave it some texture and friction to hold securely in place. these half-penny wonders were also strangely absent from this new bundle. thankfully, i still had a pair left from my last ipod.
the earbuds bring me to a curious point. why are they white? yes, they are apple’s ipod “signature”, but it made sense when the only colour ipods came in were white. even other hues for the ipod mini were acceptable to pair with white, but this is black, and perhaps as an art director i’m overly sensitive to things like this, but it can’t just be my eyes… everything with eyesight can distiguise black from white pretty easily. it just seems a strange match is all, and i wish the earbuds, cables, etc were also in black to match.
one last nitpick that is nobody’s fault but mine and my own fanatacism: the previous 30 & 60GB models were shown featuring a shot of bono from a live performance of ‘original of the species’… you’ve seen it; the one of his profile against the bright blue background? i wish that image was still shown in the photos on the packaging for the new models. instead, i’ve got capt’ jack sparrow on one side, and an actual interface shot of someone listening to the new chili pepper’s album, Stadium Arcadium. i guess that’s better than nothing.. or worse, norah jones and celine dion.
the final verdict of the new ipod 80GB in black? it’s so gorgeous, you want it to be a person so you can share a real, emotional moment with it… and then you realise it’s just a bit of electronics, and that you’ve suddenly become more of a geek than you ever thought possible.
wondering what that inscription i mentioned having had engraved on the bum-side of my new friend? it’s the top half of my favourite lyric:
“Every artist is a cannibal
Every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration
and then sing about their grief”
–bono, the fly
and with that, look for a recap of my recent trip to seattle soon, along with some photography of the beauiful city…i’m off to play with my new ipod until i pass asleep.
listening to:
FutureSex/LoveSounds
Justin Timberlake