I didn’t want any bells and whistles in my FJ Cruiser but the choice of radio stations in Orlando is not good, and the one killer feature of my FJ is that it has an input plug for an MP3 player for the stereo. So I looked into the various iPods and finally bought an iPod Touch. If you are not familiar with this latest iPod, it’s basically the same thing as the iPhone… without the phone part.
I decided to buy the 16 GB version because it will hold up to 20 hours of video, but the battery is rated for 5 hours of video so I didn’t think it was worth buying the 32 GB version because 40 hours of video with a 5 hour battery is a bit of overkill. So why not get the 8 GB version? Well I have quite a few videos (45 on this site as of this post) and I am trying to make more as often as possible so I was not sure how much space I needed for storage.
Anyway, this solved my radio station problem, but there were so many bonus features that came along with the iPod that I still can’t get over how cool this thing is. First of all it has Wi-Fi! So anywhere I go that has an open Wi-Fi connection I can connect to the internet to check email, browse the real internet with a real browser (anything but flash content that is), check the weather using the weather widget that comes with the iPod, use Google Maps to get directions, watch YouTube videos, check stocks and connect with iTunes so I can buy more music or buy/rent movies!
So beyond being a music player and a movie player, it’s also a miniature computer! It has a calculator, note pad, address book, calendar, email program and web browser. There are also applications you can download for the iPod Touch (and iPhone) on the web such as games and other tools. You can also show images and connect the iPod to your TV and I’m honestly having trouble thinking of many more things that you could do with a laptop than you can do with this iPod. This really isn’t a music player or anything like it, it is a full blown computer.
And I’ll bet you are wondering about the twist… in the late 1990’s I bought a book called “The Road Ahead” which is about the future of the digital age, and although I didn’t finish the book I do remember that there was a heavy focus on the idea that people would be using hand held computer systems to access information on the internet and send/receive information. There was a specific description of the device as being small enough to fit in your pocket and as powerful as a typical desktop computer. Is this the device that was described in the book and did the author have a great insight on the future of technology in the digital age?
Who was the author of “The Road Ahead”?
None other than the Co-Founder and CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates.
Incase you don’t get the twist in the review, the iPod is made by Apple.