My First Apple, an Apple iPod Touch Review

It's official, the new iPod Touch has arrived in Montreal. And now I just realized something...I've never owned a portable mp3 player in my life. That's pretty rare today when I think about it. The closest thing I have is my cell phone with it's built-in mp3 player.

So I hopped over to Futureshop (where they have equal to US prices) and grabbed the last iPod they had (luckily it was the 16GB version which is the one I actually wanted). There were also 2 people on a waiting list for it but they couldn't be reached so the sales guy let me have it...Wow, what an honour! (sarcastic).

And now I have in my hands the latest iPod Touch with a totally brand new feature—actual volume control buttons (seriously)! Mind blowing isn't it? Anyways, let's see how someone like me who is "untainted" by Apple's apparent glory will fare using Apple's stuff for the first time. But, for now that means the using the dreaded iTunes.

The fact that you have no choice but to use iTunes (in order to use your iPod) leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but like most iPod people you say "Whatever" and get over it.

So after trying to get iTunes working on a slower PC machine...I gave up. I kept getting a message saying that I need Quicktime installed in order to use iTunes...Ridiculous! An installer that DOESN'T install what you need!

Then it says to reinstall again...so I did (it actually says it will install Quicktime the second time around). But of course that doesn't work either. So I try installing Quicktime separately. No luck. Then it says to uninstall iTunes completely and then re-install. Alright fine. But still nothing. Are you kidding me? After all I've heard, is this what Apple has to offer? This could be the worst software installation experience I've ever had, which forced me to make this post so long. And now I have to continue this semi-rant another time...

Update: 
So what is it like to have an iPod for the very first time as a Montrealer? Without a wi-fi internet connection the iPod Touch almost useless to me. In Montreal, there's virtually no free wi-fi internet connections anywhere. There's one McDonald's I think that is testing wi-fi and Starbucks has it, but otherwise you're going to have to use it mostly at home or at work.

iPod Touch

The apps (i.e. games) are what saves the iPod Touch when you are offline. The interface is obviously very intuitive and fun to use (unlike the iTunes installer). It's such a big contrast between using iTunes installer and the iPod Touch...One works, and the other doesn't. But, my review of the iPod Touch? Yes, it's very cool.

FYI: Just so you know, if you want to use iTunes you have to give it your credit card info. That was indeed an unpleasant surprise. At least ask for it when I want to make a purchase, not just to start using it.

Anyways, I tried installing iTunes on the Acer Aspire One netbook, which seemed to have worked without a hitch...For a day. The next day I try to run iTunes it doesn't work at all. Seriously, is this a bad joke? At least after running the update it seems to be working fine...But, wow what a struggle to get it working. Now I can finally start to make use of my iPod Touch.

Update 2:
Not much going on these days. Got a scare when updating my iPod Touch...Thought I bricked it for a second. After some Google searching I found out that I had to update my iTunes first (stupid error messages don't say anything useful as usual).

I ended up having to restore my iPod, but lost all the media I had stored on it. While I am now glad that my iPod works again—it's not the way an update should be and I'll definitely think twice before updating in the future.