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Apple iPod 10GB M8740
Product Rating  
With its 2,000-song capacity, 10-hour battery, 6.5-ounce weight and industry-leading skip protection, iPod significantly improves the quality of the digital lifestyle. Small though it is - just 6.5 ounces and the size of a deck of cards iPod is a breakthrough MP3 music player that packs lots of CD-quality songs into an ultra-portable, 6.5-ounce design that fits in your pocket. iPod combines a major advance in portable music device design with Apple's legendary ease of use and Auto-Sync, which automatically downloads all your iTunes songs and playlists into your iPod, and keeps them up to date whenever you plug your iPod into your Mac.
Features of the Apple iPod 10GB M8740 include:
- Touch-sensitive scroll wheel and button for finding music fast
- 5cm Backlit LCD screen and illuminated buttons for easy viewing
- FireWire interface for quick music transfer
- Autosync your entire iTunes or MusicMatch library
- Create play lists and rate songs
- Shuffle songs or albums
- Customise menus
- 20 Equaliser settings
- Rechargeable lithium ion battery with 8 hours of continuous play
- Charge time: 3 hours (1 hour fast charge to 80% capacity)
- Store and view contacts, iCal calendars and to do lists
- iPod Dock (not 10GB model) which also has an audio line out for connection to a hi-fi system or external powered speakers
- Up to 25 minutes of skip protection
- Carrying case with belt clip (not 10GB model)
- Wired remote control (not 10GB model)
- Sleep timer and alarm clock functions
- MP3, WAV, AIFF and AAC formats supported
- Apple earphones
- FireWire cable, PC FireWire adaptor and AC adaptor
- Solitaire, Brick and Parachute games included
- H104 x W61 x D15.8mm (40GB model: D17.8mm)
- Weight 158g (40GB model: 176g)
- Touch-sensitive scroll wheel and button for finding music fast
Apple iPod 10GB M8740 Consumer Reviews
(3 reviews)
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Reviewed by Soshie on 15-06-2005
I bought this MP3 player and after 3 days, the battery only managed to last 30 minutes or thereabouts before I had to charge it again. Some songs stick -e.g the Who's My Generation will not play, nor will some bossa nova tracks. HIghly disappointing. Also the software does not support windows 98. Rubbish.
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Reviewed by Ali on 29-01-2004
I recently bought an Ipod, and it then proceeded to break after eight days. It still has not returned, and I have had numerous friends who have had, because the metal on the ipod expands, which then makes the casing very easy to break. In my opinion, Apple need to take them all back, and give the consumer DOUBLE their money back!
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Reviewed by Leila on 01-01-2004
Appearance: 10/10 The first thing I did with the iPod, obviously, was look at it. Everything about it was cool, shiny, futurish...in a word, slick. The power adapter was slick. The FireWire cord was slick. The actual iPod was very slick. Even the packaging was slick, for crying out loud. Sum It Up: From the box to the iPod itself, it\'s all eye candy. Very nice appearance and design. Ease of Use: 9/10 The second thing I did with it was take it out of the box and go, 'Oooh! Aaah! omg I hav a ipod it iz sooo kewl!!!!!'. While turning it over in my hands, staring at in awe, I accidentally hit one of the buttons and an apple appeared on the screen, and then a long menu, most of which I couldn't read. Choose your language. What the heck is that supposed to mean?! Instead of thinking, I hit the scroll wheel and accidentally tapped the centre button in the process, setting it to what I think was Korean. At this, I went into panic mode, trying to find the manual. I ended up finding the Quick Start guide first, which told you how to reset. The apple appeared on the screen again, to my relief, and I selected English from the forthcoming menu. The iPod menu popped up. Yay! But since I had heard that if you let the battery die the first time you use it, the battery won't hold a charge again, so I had to find the power cord. Fast. I finally got hold of it, plugged it in, and voila - a picture of a battery filling up appears on the screen, along with the phrase 'Charging...' Yay. At least that much was easy. Sum It Up: The menus are straightforward and easy to use. There are only five buttons, and a scroll wheel. The scroll wheel proves to work well, once you figure it's oriented to go forward when you turn clockwise. PC Compatibility: 7.5/10 (I don\'t know about you Mac users, I have Windows and therefore am using this as a judging category.) After I had it all charged up, I decided I would try connecting it to my laptop, so I could actually listen to it. For those of you who don't know, I have a Dell Inspiron 1100 running on Windows XP. After checking the manual, I search my computer for a FireWire port - and find a dead panel in the back, labelled 'IEEE 1394'. Great, I can't put my music on it. I read further, and it said that if you didn't have a FireWire port, you could purchase an optional USB 2.0 + FireWire dock connector at the Apple store online. Oh joy! It cost an extra #20, but Dad ordered it and it came in about four days. I had already installed all the software that had come with the iPod onto my computer, so that was all set. I connected the iPod to my laptop, sat down, and waited. The iPod displayed a screen that said 'Do Not Disconnect', but my computer gave no sign of having detected it. After reviewing the manual, I disconnected and connected again. This time, iTunes didn't notice it...but Windows did. After about 20 seconds, it presented me with a dialog box. 'Drive E:\\ is not formatted. Would you like to format it now?' I didn't bother thinking about it, and just hit Enter, waiting for iTunes to detect it. I glanced over at the iPod...the apple again? But this time it didn't switch over to a language menu - it displayed a folder with one of those exclamation points inside a triangle. Even I wasn't dumb enough to realise what that meant...format means delete everything, right? Everything that was on the iPod (basically the only thing it had held at the moment) included the software. At this, I went hysterical and tried to get my dad to help me, but he wasn't exactly in an available position at the time. He finally suggested looking for the software on the CD that came with the iPod. I tried reinstalling everything, with the iPod now attached to the computer. After many minutes of distress and pain, I reset the iPod. Thank goodness - the apple and language menu. iTunes was now able to detect it, and after I selected the 'Automatic Update' option, it transfered all 691.9mb of my music to the iPod in less than a minute. Sum It Up: In order to use an iPod with most PCs, they make you buy extra equipment, which is a little annoying. Windows also seems to want to format it right away which might catch an unknowing user off guard, and the all the software that comes with it has to be installed with the iPod attached in order for it to work right. After all these problems are dealt with, the data transfer is fast and easy from iTunes. Sound: 10/10 Once I had the music in, I naturally started to play it. Sound was nice. A lot of equalizer presets, too, which improved it even more. And that's all. Sum It Up: Uhh. The sound's really good. As good as the sound file will allow it to be. Features: 9.5/10 I was pleased at the number of things the iPod could do. Besides having games, and holding calendar events (at least for Mac users), contacts, and notes, the browse options for the music were excellent. Further searching showed that there were over twenty equalizer presets, and a thing called 'Sound Check', so all your music was at the same relative sound level. I also fell in love with one of the simplest features, the backlight. How many things have I had that didn't have a simple backlight so I could see what I was doing in the dark? But my personal favourite was the music quiz, which played a piece of a song and you had to choose which song it was. It amused me for quite a time. Sum It Up: Features are pretty good. The equalizer presets and Sound Check proved helpful. And the backlight kicked arse. Battery and Charging: 1/10 The iPod has a non-removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This battery is, as claimed by Apple, 'designed to last the lifetime of the product'. (No, really. The product doesn't exactly work, as in it can't be used, once the battery dies; hence, the life of the product has ended.) I might as well explain the reason this category has received many points at all, before I start my story. The battery charges to 80% in an hour, which is pretty fast. It also provides 8 hours of playing time, which is sufficient enough for me. The battery meter displayed on the iPod is also pretty accurate. The iPod can be charged either by connecting it to your computer if you use FireWire, or connecting it to a power outlet. I use a power outlet, of course. For a while, I had no problem with it. (Let me also mention that I spent the days waiting for the USB connector reading the iPod's manual front to back, letting every word sink in, making sure I wouldn't screw it up. I did nothing to that iPod that it clearly said not to.) Yesterday (the day I got all my music onto it), I had plugged it in because Dad and I were going to see my grandma; I thought I could charge it a little more before we went, since the battery was only 25% charged. I went up to my room just to check on how fast it was charging. I unplugged the dock connector from the iPod to see the battery level, and plugged it back in. But...what's this? The screen on the iPod was completely blank, devoid of even an apple. No charging icon, no menu, no song, no nothing. The manual was in my hands again - a quick skim of the troubleshooting guide. Making sure the hold switch wasn't on hold, I tried resetting it. Nothing. Unplugging the dock connector, I tried turning it on. Nothing. How about magic tap? Nothing. Two magic taps?...No, it was just a trick of light. Nothing. At this point I was starting to get annoyed. My brand new iPod which I had just started to use that day, and it wouldn't even turn on? The only thing I could think it was showing symptoms of was the 'HAHAHA UR BATTERY IS DEAD' affliction. Impossible, after five days...and the troubleshooting guide provided nothing to help me except a website. Not even a phone number. After going to see my grandma, Dad and I went there to see what help we could find. Sum It Up: My experience with the iPod battery ain't so hot. It died after five days, for no apparent reason besides plugging it in to charge. Indeed, a ridiculous life span for such an expensive product. Customer Service: 7.5/10 Boy, was this fun. After going to the Apple Support site (which said nothing about blank screens after trying to charge it), I had to register to get to some other page...which would not be in service until 12.30 on 1/1/2004. Dad had the bright idea to click on 'Contact Us' at the bottom of the screen, though - jackpot. A phone number, just what we were looking for. Free, too, since I was still in the '90-day complementary period'. I find it very odd that they provide a phone number on the website, but not on anything with the iPod. Oh well. Life does has its little odditites. I called the phone number, and was greeted by an automated man's voice. I did all the normal things; say what product I needed help with, push one to talk to a human, confirm that I really did want to talk to human, confirm again that I would much rather talk to a human than a robotic voice who would just ask me to push more buttons. The first human I talked to asked me what my problem was, and what kind of computer I had. Then she put me on hold as she transferred me to a 'technician who will help promptly'. After surviving through ten minutes of Muzak, I ended up talking to a guy, whose voice reminded me of Christopher Lowell, and the stutter of one who hadn't built the confidence of being on the job for a while. I told him my problem, he told me to do all the obvious stuff listed on the site and in the troubleshooting guide, nothing worked, and I got put on hold again as he went to do some research on the problem. Six minutes of country, this time (at least it wasn't that mood-altering elevator junk!). Urk. When he came back, he told me to either to return it to the store I bought it from, and if I could do that, I could send it to Apple to either get it serviced, or exchanged. Oh well. They tried. I thanked him for his time, being the polite person I am, and hung up with the same hopelessness I had felt before. Which didn't come as much of a surprise. Sum It Up: Customer Service wasn't all that bad. The hold lines didn't make me wait for a horribly long time, but it was a little silly that I had to go onto their site, just to get a phone number to contact them. Overall: 3/10 The actual average comes out to about 7.7/10, but I only thought it fair to subtract 4.7 points because:Too many other people have been having problems, and; Mine died the first day I really used it, which is pretty stupid. The iPod is a great piece of equipment. It does a lot of neat stuff, is easy to use, looks great...But despite all of the good things, there's something very wrong with the iPod. It just doesn't work. Anything that doesn't work after a day of use is just a useless and pathetic thing. The only reason I left three points was because it was good while it lasted. So, save your money. Other hard drive mp3 players are coming out next year. It's worth the wait; trust me. Sum It Up: Don't buy it. Just don't.
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