The time has finally come. I picked up a spanking new 60GB iPod on Friday night. The thing is just hott, too – this is easily the sexiest generation of iPod ever. The 60 loses a little something in aesthetics compared to the unbelievably thin 30, but more than compensates with capacity. Fitting also, that the 5G iPod coincidentally constitutes the 5th member of our household iPod family.
I also bought one of the new universal docks because I was unsure as to whether the 3rd-gen dock that I got with my other iPod would be compatible. They both fit snugly in the same dock adapter (#10) that came with the new one, but I’ll have to wait until Tuesday when I get to work to see whether it’s a similar situation with the existing dock.
For $40 the universal dock also includes adapters for the iPod mini and all the 4G iPods which is rather convenient but unnecessary. I only wish the 5G iPod came as well-equipped. $360 2 years ago got me a 15GB iPod, a dock, a firewire cable, headphones, a carrying case, and wall plug. And while this new iPod adds some great features, the dock becomes an extra rather than a given, and I’m just happy I can continue to use the old power brick. Fortunately, a very nice simple case is included, and while I was disappointed in the lack of FireWire support, the USB 2 seems to work just fine.
I’ve yet to play any videos on it and have only used the photo feature briefly. According to this, a copy of Quicktime Pro will convert any videos you’d already view in Quicktime (mpeg, MOV, or AVI) into an iPod-ready format. I’m trying this right now, so I’ll try to follow up. It seems to work well, and given that Pro for Windows and Mac are the 3rd and 4th best sellers in the Apple Store right now I’d bet others agree.