iPod Touch First Impressions

[Peter]

Got it, good. But an example of why if a feature isn't "obvious or discoverable," it may not be found. .

Fair point, although there is a user manual, you know.

(Go to iTunes, select help-iPod help-iPod manuals-iPod touch.)

Peter

 

[laurence]

DW and I are totally addicted to our Ipod Touchs (touches?). At first the soft keyboard was difficult, but now I can rattle off long updates to my fb page almost as fast as a full keyboard - thumbs don't fail me now! I never listen to a commercial in the car anymore, I check my email mostly from it, play mostly itouch/iphone games since with 2 kids I don't have time for 4 hour treks into multi-player doungeons! I think it's one of the best designed devices I've ever used. I agree with others, we'll be a Mac house in a few years as the PCs die and get replaced. My two year old can play games, play music, flip through pictures, etc. on the Itouch and has never been instructed. It's very intuitive.

 

[Ronstar]

I love my Ipod Touch. It flawlessly plays music through my Sync system on my F150. Getting more apps every day. I wrote one that allows me click / count and keep track of my sets during workouts and resets back to 0 after 3 sets

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

Got it, good. But an example of why if a feature isn't "obvious or discoverable," it may not be found.

Welcome to the ironic world of Apple's "intuitive" user interfaces. It seems to me that the further they get away from the command-line interface, the harder user documentation is to write.
There is almost always some delightfully simple way to do a task. The problem is that if you don't happen to discover it, then you might never find it and spend years doing something the hard way. After years of using Macs, I am still having Homer Simpson moments.

Doh! You mean all you have to do is... ?
​

It is also extremely difficult to find answers on Apple's user support web site. I have given up on their search engine, and just Google my questions. Google's first hit is ofter the article I want (and couldn't find) on the Apple site.

They do have some very good video tutorials on their website, and even as an experienced user, I have found that I learn something every time I watch one.

 

[FIYes]

I have had an IPOD touch for about year. Really like it and plan to purchase an IPAD next year. I agree that the little bitty keyboard is difficult to use---but practice helps quite a bit. I also wish the battery lasted longer before needing a recharge. I love the games that can be downloaded and it is very handy for checking e-mail when traveling.

 

[CuppaJoe]

.... it is very handy for checking e-mail when traveling.

I now prefer checking e-mail from iPod over MacBookPro because it is a better set up, quicker to get in and out of it. Maybe, as IP indicates, there's a lot more for me to learn about navigating both products. I learned a little bit about how to quickly delete an e-mail from a free iPod app. Apple products do make me more tech-interested.

 

[M Paquette]

Yeah - ran into that on the Mac too.

At some point the quotes data file got big enough? Then it started self-corrupting.
...
Quicken/Intuit has neglected the Mac for a loooooong time.

Audrey

Exactly. The former Quicken Mac programmers used a fixed size buffer to hold the downloaded quotes for merging, which would overflow once enough data had accumulated (over a few years). The PowerPC emulator used on the Intel Macs actually has a workaround for this to attempt to let Quicken limp along for a few more years, until the new Quicken Mac programmers get the new version up to par. (The older versions, Quicken 2007 and earlier, are coded to use the old Carbon and Code Fragment Manager stuff from the MacOS 8.5 era.)

One can only hope that the newer version works better, and eventually gains features that are needed to comply with the US tax code, like tracking cost basis! That sort of missing 'feature' is a deal breaker for me.

 

[TromboneAl]

Occasionally the music volume decreases and there's a tone, and the volume goes back to normal. I assume this is a notification that a push application has sent some data to my email or calendar?

 

[FIREd]

Occasionally the music volume decreases and there's a tone, and the volume goes back to normal. I assume this is a notification that a push application has sent some data to my email or calendar?

Yep it's a notification of some sort.

 

[WanderALot]

Al, If you are interested in bypassing the iTunes, take a look at jailbreaking it. Jailbreaking opens up a lot of possibilities; you can even SSH into it!