Apple iPod 15 GB White M8946LL/A (3rd Generation)

My only disappointment was with the Tunecast FM tuner thing that Belkin sells (via Apple). It only broadcasts on 88.1, 88.3, 88.5, and 88.7 and here in SF they are all full. Also, the sound quality was terrible. .... The direct line-out from the dock into my home amplifier also gives very good sound quality.

Like several people here I had some problems with Musicmatch, which is a very un-Apple like piece of bloatware, so I am using ephpod, which is free, looks like Apple software, and works flawlessly (after some tinkering).

I did hit a few snags during the installation, so here are a few tips to get you going once you get your iPod:

1. First install all the software from the CD that comes with the iPod. This also configures the iPod. I used an Orange Micro firewire card for my laptop.
2. Then uninstall Musicmatch, using the Windows Control Panel. Don't forget to uninstall the Musicmatch iPod plug-in as well.
3. Get Ephpod from www.ephpod.com and install it. It's free.
4. Make sure your iPod is fully charged (takes about two hours).
5. Plug your iPod into a firewire port and start ephpod.
6. Go through the wizard and find your iPod (it was drive G: in my case)
7. Use the config button to select which directory holds your music (My Music in most cases).
8. Hit the synch button.

If ephpod crashes halfway through your first synching operation, reboot your computer and change the cache to 512k in the ephpod configuration menu (advanced options). I also clicked the Windows API thing (no idea what that does, but someone recommended it). After that it worked smoothly. Took about 15 minutes to download over 2000 songs.

One thing to remember: when you change tags in ephpod's menu it only changes them on the iPod. Synching afterwards will create duplicates, because the unchanged songs on your hard disk will be loaded onto the iPod in addition to the songs you changed. So you should either make sure all your tags are good before you synch the first time or just download single directories after your first synch. (All of this sounds more complicated than it is in reality).

Don't forget: make sure the iPod is fully charged. Downloading all your music takes a lot of energy and you don't want the iPod to die in the middle of your first synch, which is going to be far longer than any subsequent ones.

Finally, if the iPod does die just uninstall everything and reinstall using the original Apple CD. It only takes 10 minutes or so. Don't forget to uninstall Musicmatch!

Enjoy!


15 GB Ipod Honest Review   August 13, 2003
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I purchased my 15gb ipod and I decided to put down the extra $[$$] for the 15gb instead of the 10gb, which i think was a very good idea. One of the reasons for my choosing the 15 over the 10 is actually the price. Many do not realize, but in the long run, the 15 comes out to be cheaper. This is because of accessories. At first, I was planning on buying the 10 and then adding on sme accessories such as the dock and remote (which come free with the 15 and 30 models) but once i got to the shoping cart, i soon realized that it was actually more expencive than the 15!

Now if you are smart (like i was hehe) you are probably reading this review to get some insight from real people who have real opinions on the purchase you are about to make. I, a windows xp home user, have had no problems whats so ever with synching, charging, or installing. You will also [hear of] users complain about music match. I am not sure what program [they]'ve been using, but my experience with music match has been a dream. By far, music match is the best and most user-friendly media player out there for windows. And with music match jukebox plus (witch is what ships with all ipods) the limits are endless. If you download songs off the net, you wil often fnd yourself with incomplete song tags. Feilds such as "artist" "album" etc will often be missing. With music match plus, all one has to do is use the feature "look up tags" and music match will automatically connect to their servers and repair the tag and even download the album art! All in a matter of seconds.

I think that the sensitivity was perfectly calibrated and apple has sone a fantastic job with the design of this mp3 player. The touch wheel makes scrolling through thousands of songs a breeze and the backlit buttons and screen look amazing.
Besides the AAC file format (which will be available to pc users by the end of 03') all extra features are available to pc users. Its easy to creat contacts, notes, and calender dates on the pc using microsoft outlook. And to add them on ur ipod, you simply just drag and drop like it were a hard drive instead of an mp3 player, which it is!

Probably like you, before purchasing anything, i compare it to its leading competetors. Currently, the only competition that even comes close is the nomad zen. Both are firewire400 and usb 2.0 compatable, but the zen just cant match up to the style, ease of use, and compactness of that of the ipod. Just the box of the ipod alone says it all. Everyone knows the most fun out of recieving a gift or making a purchase is opening the box and laying your eyes on it for the first time.
This is definately the best mp3 player out there.

I admit that the ipod is not cheap, but the price is very fair for what you get. If you are gonna spend over $$$ for a portable music player, you should buy the best, dont settle because you will regret it later.


Myths about iPod   June 14, 2003
 19 out of 22 found this review helpful

I purchased the 15GB iPod this week (June 9, 2003) to run with my Win2000 machine. I was almost convinced by messages on this board that the iPod wouldn't work very well with Windows. That could not be any farther from the truth.

1. I opened my iPod at 11AM. The install of iPod and download of all my music was complete by 1PM. No kidding. Granted I don't have Gigs of music but I was pretty impressed that iPod plugged into the firewire port and began working without errors. The transfer speed was outstanding (5Mg is less than 10 seconds).

2. Musicmatch worked seamlessly with Win and iPod. I drug my music library to the portable device window and the download began. No problems what so ever.

3. The firewire port DOES allow the iPod to charge when it's plugged into to my PC. Don't mess around with the USB connection! Someone claimed you had to buy some upgraded Firewire card but I purchased a cheap PCI firewire card and its works great.

4. Apple installs a utility to dock and undock the iPod from the PC. Works like a charm every time.

Maybe I'm the lucky one here but I can't say enough good things about the iPod. My recommendation is to purchase this tool and then trade in your PC for an iMac, that's my next big purchase.


Shift of the paradigm.   July 18, 2003
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

In what has to be the slickest execution of a new piece of hardware yet, this Apple-linked but PC-compatible product will make all portable music players obsolete in no time flat. I have been following trends in this area for a long time, and my last big MP3 player investment was in a SONICblue Jukebox. Wow, how fast things evolve! That machine, cutting edge 2 years ago, had a 6 gig hard drive and allowed only for rather slow uploading of music through its balky software interface via a USB 1.0. In addition, its organizational abilities were limited.
The iPod is about 1/10 the size of the old Jukebox, absolutely ultra high tech looking, with backlighting that awes and controls that work intuitively, and it uploads easily through its firewire cradle or a USB 2.0 (optional) connection.
Music can be categorized and recalled quickly, with the scroll control making it all simple to access.
Sound quality is awesome, its earbuds light years ahead of anything similar. Capacity is incredible (the 15 gig unit will hold 3,700 songs, the 30 gig unit twice that number!) and battery life is just fine. The cradle will recharge and synch the unit to your PC, but I bought the optional car charger for longer road trips. I also bought the FM transmitter that attaches neatly to the unit and allows you to play the iPod through your stereo sans wires, though the cassette adapter works better for that purpose.
A word about Apple's customer service: WOW! I ordered the unit on a Sunday, with the additional $ for custom engraving on its silver back. In an hour I got an email that my order was being processed, and in 6 hours I got an email that it had shipped! The email included a tracking link, and I watched it move from Taiwan across the world in 2 days. I got it on Tuesday evening (!) and it was factory sealed/shrink wrapped and in fine condition. When I opened it (even the packaging is high tech) and took it out of its protective inner wrapper, I was delighted to find the engraving was there and was done just perfectly.
If delivering a great product and offering perfect service is to be lauded, Apple must be given the highest kudos possible.


An iPod for Windows User   May 16, 2003
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

Hi, I thought I'd add some commentary here, because I actually have a new 15 gig iPod which I use with my Windows PC. It worked GREAT for the first few days, but then started having weird problems. It would tell me the iPod was full, when I still had 10+ gigs of free space on it. I thought maybe the HDD was fried, so I ended up calling Applecare. They were very nice and spent 2+ hours on the phone with me. The end result though, was that my iPod was no closer to working and they had me uninstall the software for it, and it wouldn't reinstall. They told me to check my system and hung up with me. Well, after that, I tried installing other apps without a problem. On a whim, I downloaded Ephpod...and had no problems transferring my music over. I did later get that same iPod full error, but realized that my battery was merely exhausted. After charging it, the ipod transferred normally again. It was all just a case of a bad error message. My only problem is that now I can't get the software for it to load back up onto my machine, so I just installed MusicMatch (which stinks!) onto my other PC and use it to load my CDs and then Ephpod to move them over. Works like a dream! Ephpod also handles contacts, audible content and much more! So, Windows users, don't be scared to own an iPod. Just make sure to charge it up before you start syncing to avoid any technical scares, like I had! By the way, I love my iPod!
-Alia