Consider the iPod Touch. Like the one red-headed child in a family of five, he just doesn’t seem to fit in. Even MacWorld magazine, which should know, lists the Touch in both its iPod and iPhone columns each month.
It is, after all, a little bit of both and not enough of either.
The Touch is only slightly larger than the older iPod Video. It is noticeably lighter. It has a larger hard drive capacity. Of course, the latest Video iPod is called a “Classic” and comes with a 160 gig hard drive. The Touch has 32 gigs. This is actually quite a lot, unless you are storing grand opera.
Like the iPhone and the new iPad, the Touch is a portable Internet tool. Like the iPhone and iPad it lets you sit in a local coffee shop and get your work done. Like the iPhone, the three and a half-inch screen is just fine for checking scores and passing notes. I can see where the iPad would be better for reading the fine print on a website.
Any Wi-Fi site lets you connect your iPod to the net. From there you are off to where ever, checking e-mail and writing movie scripts. But there is more. Like its twin brother, the iPhone, the Touch runs Apple Apps. These are applications. Back in the beige computer days we would have called them programs. That’s right. The programs that people said there were not enough of to justify an Apple computer now numbers over 100K. Granted the fact that, as they say on TV, there’s an app for that, may sound exiting. In fact there are a lot of duplication of apps.
Most newspapers and magazines have one. So do most TV networks. There are all kinds of sports apps to check for scores, standings and news. There are hundreds of games, if you can play them on the little screen. The calendar, contacts and to-dos connect to the counterpart programs in your desktop. Facebook, Twitter and the other social network sites can connect. If you are already addicted to any of these, you can spend hours playing with it.
There are some new words to learn. Friend as a verb may sound strange, but it is what you do to add someone to your Facebook account. I think you get rid of them by unfriending them. Most info gets “pushed” because you are not typing or clicking, you are simply pushing the touch screen. (Check in the Brave New World Dictionary.)
Had I gotten on board earlier, I probably would not be excited to watch A-Rod’s 600th homer on video from the comfort of my desk. Listening to the radio station in Cleveland call the latest defeat of my Indians live would not seem as amazing as it does.
The iPod Tough can have a hypnotic effect on people. It does, indeed, connect people like never before. I find that I can keep first aid info on hand. I can track my blood sugar for my diabetes. I can keep track of the pills I have to take, the names of which I never remember. Why? Yes, because, “There’s an app for that.”
Apple has made the app process, and everything else, simple by putting it all in the iTunes program. You want music? You get music, movies, TV shows, and video games. And, yes, Apps. They all download from iTunes. Some for a fee. This slim little pocket size device has the power of the Library of Congress, literally, in its slim little body.
And did I mention it does play music? It is, after all, an iPod. In fact, I think it sounds just a little better than its older brothers.
Third party items add to the adventure. Ontario’s MacAlly has several covers, chargers and attachments. Their Bluetooth keyboard works for the Touch as well as the iPhone and iPad. Buffalo Technology, out of Texas, makes a charger device that also holds an external hard drive. This works for the iPhone as well. I fact, many iPod Touch items fit the iPhone as well. (It’s kind of like picking out clothes for twins.)
To be fair, the iPod Touch does not do a few things. It does not make phone calls, of course. It does not take pictures or videos. The iPhone 4 does those things. The Touch DOES play videos, even music videos, and shows and files photos. The Touch is much smaller than the iPad so if you want to download iBooks, which are written to read, unlike audiobooks, it will make you squint. Even the gaming abilities are limited because of its screen size. Nevertheless, it is an amazing little machine. It is part of a family that has converted everything into Digital Content. I have written of DC before. It may sound cold and way too futuristic, but it also has made everything accessible.
The Brave New World can fit into your hand. Orwell and Huxley never suspected that an iPod Touch would make all of their other things seem less threatening.