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Original 2001 TechTV iPod Review Video
youtube.com — Interesting look back at a review when the iPod first came out...
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- gophernut, on 10/12/2007, -3/+675 gigs...$400. Times have changed a lot!
I miss the old techtv :(- Sandwiches_Time, on 10/12/2007, -7/+89BEEP BEEP BEEP. I want to back you up there. BEEP BEEP BEEP.
- Deranged, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30I miss all of TechTV...
- SoldierPrime, on 10/12/2007, -2/+49I miss TechTV also :(
screw you G4 - theragu40, on 10/12/2007, -1/+54Times have definitely changed. The price, the size, and not to mention the fixation on a side-headphone jack. What an awful idea!
- ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -52/+29Considering that the only real change from then until now is storage space, I would have hoped that the price of the iPod would've dropped significantly more than it has. But then again, this is what happens when one company completely dominates the market.
I still haven't bought an iPod, but I think I'd get far better value if I take the same $400 and spend it on a next-gen videogame console. The difference in technology and capability simply makes the iPod's high price seem like some sort of a scam.
(Commence your mod-down attacks, oh ye of little patience for dissenting thought...) - Ninjab3ar, on 10/12/2007, -30/+12I miss James Kim.
- TypeMRT, on 10/12/2007, -14/+7"iPod's high price seem like some sort of a scam."
I disagree completely. I think a 30GB iPod video for $250 (in 2006 dollars) is a much better deal than a 5GB iPod "grayscale" for $400 (in 2001 dollars).
"I'd get far better value if I take the same $400 and spend it on a next-gen videogame console."
Given the high cost of consoles today and low cost of iPods, that's a bit of a stretch unless you ONLY want a Wii and assume that you'll spend the same amount money on games vs. music. - armbar, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17ilyag, I dugg you up for the dissenting thought :)
However, iPods are now capable of playing videos, have greater storage space, better batteries, and are more portable and stylish than the first gen ones. I think $400 is overpriced, but it's still had a lot of change over the years. - kilmer, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3The only real change? How about the ability to play videos? That seems like a big change as least it was big enough for me to get one...oh yea and that other minor change that made it compatible with Windows too.
update: You beat me to it armbar except I dugg him down. - 23r17i05o42n, on 10/12/2007, -38/+43Even that old ipod is 100X better than the Zune.
- phpfreak, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10TechTV was the best! When G4 took over I was so upset...
I miss TSS, Call 4 Help, and TechLive!! Thank gosh for Rev3 and Twit!!! - guyincognito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11She says "Here's the deal"!!!
Must be an old TechTV thing - node3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ilyag
The most expensive iPod is $350. Most models sell for quite a bit less than that. - tagliare, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
- slrranma, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14what happend to Brett Larson?
- badtz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7he left to New York after TechTV, to another news station.
- rodrigo74, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Wikipedia is your friend:
Emmy Award winning reporter Brett Larson is currently the technology reporter for WCBS-TV (CBS 2) in New York City, the flagship station of CBS Television Network. He appears on CBS 2 News this Morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays with his "Tech Styles", and Saturday mornings on CBS 2 News Saturday Morning. His reports show off the latest technology, and can also be seen at other times with different technology reports. He also hosts 1/2 hour technology specials for the station and others CBS O&Os (owned and operated) stations in the CBS Television Stations Group. These specials range from car shows to gadget shows to specials on home theatres. He also can be heard on 1010 WINS radio in New York City and seen Wednesdays on UPN 31's Good Day Sacramento (Sacramento, California).
In 2005, Larson became the host of about.com's Gadget blog (about.com/gadgets).
- skoles, on 10/12/2007, -2/+105Meh, It'll never take off. A $400 mp3 player?
- tmarcV2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+51especially with that terrible design flaw of placing the headphone jack on top
- RedGiant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I hope they release it for Windows soon...
- JJP0223, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"I hope to see more of this from Apple in the future" - yea, I think he will
- ctishman, on 10/12/2007, -4/+44God, I miss TechTV so badly. Tech-literate, not hyper, in-depth. Hold me, someone.
- Daiken, on 10/12/2007, -12/+10Hah, the interview itself wasn't as smooth as a professional review should be (having to go back and explain what the iPod is, forgetting word plug, "beep beep"?), but I can forgive the guys. Still amusing. Although the plug location being a "design flaw" part was just idiotic.
- freff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11That's what TechTV was back then. Not the most professional by any means, but always informative and fun. It's still pretty cool when I see someone that used to be with the station before the takeover go on to be successful elsewhere.
- djspanky, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2The camera work is terrible too
- Pixellore, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Putting the headphone jack at the top was a horrible design flaw.
/sarcasm- AtHomeBoy2000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4yea, i caught that too. If it is sitting in your pocket or purse, do you want that little headphone jack on the side where it could bend or break? I like it on top :)
- grahamcase, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20"and the battery life... 10 hours"
"Wow!"- tidu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'm lucky if my two year old mini gets 6 hours. I even changed the battery a month ago :(
- Phyltre, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1Heck, I can't get 10 hours with my new 80gig playing audio only. I mean, I know it's the Grado headphones I use, but I love them!
- aminom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Phyltre: Do yourself a favor and look into a portable headphone amp. Your Grados will thank you and so will your batteries :)
- lesty, on 10/12/2007, -6/+36Too bad they dropped firewire, stupid apple!
- Jrr6415sun, on 10/12/2007, -16/+3did they? I just realized my fourth generation ipod has it... Did the newest one drop it?
- theragu40, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3I have a fourth generation ipod, and mine doesn't have it. What kind of ipod are you using?
- wvannus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13It is dropped on the 5th gen (and 5.5 gen) so they didn't have to put the fw comm board in there.
It will charge on firewire, however. - Geekbeard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10They also dropped the AC adapter. You can still buy it, but it used to be included.
The good news is, though, you can still use all your old iPod cables for the new iPods (at least my 4g works with the 5.5g). - lesty, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3In fourth generation it did'nt come with a firewire cable you had to buy your own.
- catastrophee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Yep, it charges fine but if you plug the firewire into your computer it says on the ipod screen "FireWire connections are not supported. To transfer songs, connect the USB cable provided. Press Center to Dismiss"
- n00bst3r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I had a fourth gen and it came with both USB and Firewire as well as a Firewire wall charger.
- ezweave, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1lesty is talking about how the connector on the iPod used to be just regular firewire. i.e. you could use any old cable. On the third gen they dropped it for the proprietary connector, to save space.
- AceTracer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It also used to come with a nice leather case. Now it's just some cheap pouch.
- GoatBnnn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I had that first gen ipod for 4 years. That was an awesome device...
- reefinyateef, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14I remember seeing the first magazine ad for the iPod when I was in college, and I thought that is what going to flop, big time. Although it was small in size and huge in space, I felt that it was way too expensive for the average person, and I knew there was no way in hell that I was getting one. Boy was I wrong!
- kingygk, on 10/12/2007, -14/+2Yeah firewire is so much better than usb 2 to transfer songs. My nano has usb but my 20 gig ipod supports both. Thank you freeipod.com :)
- rstarr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15This is the iPod I still own and use.
Firewire FTW!- Klitzy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+26Want a cookie?
- FinalSolution, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4He's just a nerd desperately trying to fit in by using "FTW".
- Klitzy, on 10/12/2007, -14/+2Why does she tell him to back up?
- Stuarts, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0Funny enough was just looking into getting an Archos 504 yesterday. I reckon that is probably better value. Anyway came across this article about liberating your ipod (whatever the hell that is!) Which is interesting - http://www.musicgrowth.com/23594.php
- Lane5slacker, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Wow, so many faces I haven't seen in a long time.
*****' G4.... - Onibus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Amazing how times have changed. They were *kinda* skeptical about the iPod taking off like it has. I mean, no windows support, smaller drive, same price as the creative offering... it's a wonder that it took off like it did. IMO, the thing that really saved it was the styling of the mp3 player. It was different and beautiful (small too).
Course, once it became a hit, windows support was added.- freff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What saved it was the loyal Apple fanbase who adopted it, and the fact that at the time, it was a Mac device. Add the fact that at the time, Apple had a real "coolness" factor, they were able to instantly expand the MP3 player market just by jumping into the game.
Plus, like you said, it looked just beautiful. - iigloo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2iTunes probably played a big part too. The other manufacturers didn't have that great software and they still don't. It's the close integration between iTunes and the iPod that makes it a winner.
Yeah, and it looks darn good.
- freff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What saved it was the loyal Apple fanbase who adopted it, and the fact that at the time, it was a Mac device. Add the fact that at the time, Apple had a real "coolness" factor, they were able to instantly expand the MP3 player market just by jumping into the game.
- Loudigi, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1The iPod...the most stylish, most poplar but the lamest of all mp3 players.
- sdcarter, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I'll try to avoid lapsing into an F'in G4 diatribe. All I'll say is that shows like TSS and TechLive were what made that channel and talent like Morgan, Kevin, Leo, Pat, Cat, Sarah, etc. were what made those shows. G4 has turned into a slightly-tech/semi-game/mostly-tripe version of Spike with one major difference... Spike knows there's money to be made catering to the Trekkies whereas G4 decided that the best new rerun show to add to their rotation of other rerun shows was Cops.
I'd Tivo shows I like on G4, but there aren't any anymore... aside from the occasional X-Play.- TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3Oooh, I was so close to giving you the thumbs up, but then you pulled out xplay.
X-Play is ***** horrible. The skits are retarded, adam is annoying and morgan looks like a man with boobs. - ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4funny how you mentioned 'talent' and then mentioned morgan.
if clicking around for a download of the day or being a set-of-mediocre-breasts-for-Xplay constitutes talent, then sure
- TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3Oooh, I was so close to giving you the thumbs up, but then you pulled out xplay.
- rankete, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I want one of these.
- MaxwellTD, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2It reminds me of my 2002 iPod that i use now.
I miss TechTv- astrosmash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was a bit of a prude back in those days and didn't get my iPod until 2003. Still going strong.
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4A nice Slashdot thread to go with that:
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&tid=107 - potterboy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Download Link http://youtube-318.vo.llnwd.net/d1/06/0B/yrEzdtSe_58.flv
- steven401, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3I love the fact that they say the iTunes integration is a pro.
- rc_collins, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3I used to love watching Brett Larson, he was SOOOO gay.
--dan- fowleryo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2getting a few ideas over there, or what?
- freff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3rc_collins was last seen browsing the following thread:
http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Google_Earth_Reveals_Penis_On_Top_of_School
Not that there's anything wrong with that. - greg544, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not a very nice comment.
- freff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@greg
I was just joking. I actually dugg rc up, because I remember exactly what he's talking about.
- merdiesel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So thats where George Costanza got that "Beep Beep Beep"...
- starguy, on 10/12/2007, -17/+0We got scammed. The ipod scraches incredibly easily (very bad thing TM), its heavy, its over priced, with a harddrive instead of flash, its not impact resistant, its metal is cold to the touch, and absolutly worst of all, no built in speakers. You get sick of getting tangled up in those headphones really fast. Hidden cost: doesn't come with a wall plug charger; charging via USB takes a long time and you have to leave your computer running. Basically all it is an eternal USB drive with mp3 play capablity. Its few controls greatly limit the development of homebrew for it.
- calabria, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Because you know, apple designed this thing for homebrew...
- farther, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24GB in 2006 = $229 cdn
5GB in 2001 = $449+ cdn
Five years, 50% price drop and a 75% size drop. Brilliant.- farther, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1An assumption worth assuming, good sir!
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"5GB in 2001 = $449+ cdn"
Ehm... Even now, $399 US doesn't make $449 cdn...
Back then, the exchange rate was 1.5x and the iPod was $599 cdn!!
- displaynone, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1DUDE! I soooo want one of those! Can you imagine? 5gb!!!
- Lane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nooo! i went to techlive.com and it took me to G4 the world has now started to end.
- gatorsrule21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's only been that way for how long now??
- rovertly, on 10/12/2007, -14/+1those people doing the review are sooooo stupid. omg
- ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
- waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's hard to believe that Creative isn't Number 1 isn't it?
- waterdrop, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2So many flaws on the first gen iPod remind me of the flaws on the Zune.
- striker1211, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Umm... wouldnt USB 2.0 have been a year old at the time? I mean she says it only goes 11 mbps (i think its 12 but not sure, maybe she got 1.1 confused) and USB 2.0 has speeds of 480 mbits/s which is faster than firewire...
- zippo512, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Price per GB for largest capacity ipods:
1gen(10GB) - $50
2gen(20GB) - $25
3gen(40GB) - $12.5
4gen(60GB) - $10
5gen(80GB) - $4.38 - jls8705, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Anyone else notice how awkward these two are? "Beep-Beep-Beep! and the blonde guy kept missing the camera.... anyways - I, for one, did not used to watch tech TV (I was only 15) so this is a new experience for me. The size of the hard drive was incredibly small! It's crazy how fast technology leaps ahead.
- Mirag3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i was 14 when techtv fell. Age doesnt really mean anything. I'd like to thank them for creating my obsession with technology
- olie_baba, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2i remember when james kim reviewed what i think was the third gen ipod and he had his wife had their names engraved in the back of the ipod.
RIP James. - xcrypt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"so here's the deal..."
- tmcdigg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11st gen ipod was a dual interface geek toy with a monochrome screen and proprietary as can be... today it's cheaper, thiner, with more reliability, more market share, and drastically reduced price and 30gb at the entry level & 80gb top model. for $50 less than the 1st gen.
Then again, there are competitors nipping at Apple's heels for market share and slashing prices and adding features all the while... (some smart--Creative Zen, some not so smart Microsoft Zune) - Genshiken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0How is the video ipod anyway?
- DucksofAnaheim, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Brett Larson...Mr Happy-Mac I always hated that guy.What a pompous *****.
- astrosmash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It's easy to forget just how awful mp3 players were before the iPod came along.
Flash mp3 players were a worthless 64 MB.
Hard drive mp3 players were huge, had no battery life, each time the device powered up it took literally 5 minutes to boot as it had to rescan the entire hard drive to build a music library, and all music organization and playlist authoring had to be done right on the device. Just awful.
Apple changed everything, and their current position at the top of the heap is very justly deserved, in my opinion. - JWaterman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2G4 sucks gigantic Elephant balls! TechTV 4 Life!
- AceTracer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Honestly, I hated TechLive. I think TechLive was the beginning of the end for TechTV, people just were not interested in hours upon hours of bland tech news.
Though I did like Erica Hill. Mmmhmm. - RIPtechtv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I miss tech TV a lot.
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