Apple's New iPod - Evolutionary, not Revolutionary

Final Words

With the original iPod, Apple had a clear winner on their hands with a revolutionary new approach to portable MP3 players. The new iPod, albeit only an evolutionary improvement over the old unit, continues to extend Apple's dominance in this sector.

For current iPod owners, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to upgrade to the new iPod, although the small size of the player is definitely tempting. The functionality of the player remains virtually unchanged, which means you'll still probably want to hold on to your expensive investment.

If you don't already have a MP3 player, then the iPod is definitely a good solution and arguably the best you'll come across. The strengths of the unit continue to be its excellent interface, extremely high storage capacity and very fast Firewire interface for getting your music collection onto the iPod.

Our only complaints about the iPod continue to be that its chrome back gets dirty and scratched way too easily (brushed aluminum anyone?) and of course the price. Starting at $299, the iPod is definitely not the cheapest solution on the block but in our opinion if you're a music junkie then it's definitely worth it. If you don't mind lugging around a slightly larger unit, you can always buy one of the first generation iPods at a significant discount either through retailers looking to liquidate stock or on eBay.