Josh's Weblog: Touching the iPod Touch

Touching the iPod Touch

This past weekend Misty gave me an iPod Touch for our anniversary and my birthday and it has easily replaced my aged iPod mini. I quickly dropped TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, and music on it from my collection. I haven't had a chance to watch many videos on it other than the occasional GeekBrief.TV episode, a few episodes of Star Trek Remastered, and two videos from the Manager Tools Podcast, but what I saw was beautiful on the large touchscreen that fits in my pocket.

I've been getting heaviest use out of podcasts. I listen to a few now that I'm driving into work three or four days a week (which means two or three hours trapped in the car). I like the Wall Street Journal daily podcast, which is about 40-50 minutes long and is arranged into chapters so I can skip articles I don't like. I get it free with my Audible.com subscription. Most podcasts aren't arranged like that, which is a pity, but I suspect they pick audio formats that work with the widest variety of devices.

Music quality is as good as always but the real surprise is how good the web browsing has been over my home's WiFi connection. I've even found a few applications specifically made for the iPhone and iPod Touch that work pretty well, like Gmail and Shredder Chess. I haven't had a chance to try it in a Starbucks yet, or try an iTunes download there.

I've already ordered a sleeve for it, and I have heard recommendations that eyeglass cleaning solutions work well for the touch screen. So far I really like it, it was a great gift!

Josh Poulson

Posted Thursday, Nov 8 2007 01:02 PM