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FadeToBlack

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 27, 2005
1,843
5
Accoville, WV
I traded my 5th Gen. to another member on here for a 4th Gen. B/W screen 20GB iPod and I am REALLY enjoying it. It doesn't have a case like my 5th Gen. did and it just feels a lot better without a case. (I had the Agent 18 video shield on my 5th Gen.) It scrolls through menus a lot faster than the 5th Gen., too. Another reason that I like it more is because of the fact that it's ONLY a music player with no extra stuff added on: no photos, video, etc. I really love it like that. The reason I traded is because my Mac doesn't have the USB 2 required by the 5th Gen. and I'm really glad I traded. FireWire seems to sync a bit faster than USB, too! The battery life also seems a lot better. I guess that's because it's a B/W screen and uses less battery power. This thing is great.

Anyway, anyone else really enjoy their older iPod more than they would a 5th Gen.?

EDIT: Just to clarify: I really loved my 5th Gen., but I didn't need the extra features it provided. The 4th Gen. just suits my needs better.
 

madtodaimax

macrumors member
Jun 30, 2004
73
0
i have checked out the 5th gen ipods and i can say that i would prefer to have a 4th gen photo. it as a much better feel, similar to my 3rd gen, which is still running stroing but experiencing diminished battery life. im not really a fan of the form factor of the 5th, which i compare to the razr, whose form factor i do not like either. i would sacrifice a little bit of the thickness to make it narrower.

Just IMHO
 

macdreamer

macrumors newbie
Oct 27, 2005
11
0
I prefer my U2 iPod

I prefer my U2 iPod over the 5th generation. I have no need/desire for video...yet. I love the red click wheel on the black face. Those were my high school's colors. I'm also a huge fan of the band.
 

mkrishnan

Moderator emeritus
Jan 9, 2004
29,776
15
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
If someone were offering to trade, I'd readily take a 5th gen. But I like the aesthetics of the 3rd gen. In particular, I like the old symmetrical headphone jack placement. :)
 

eRondeau

macrumors 65816
Mar 3, 2004
1,159
382
Canada's South Coast
Off-topic, but...

I've got a 3G 40GB and a 2G 10GB, and I definitely prefer the old 2G. :eek:

I know the 3G is the "black sheep" of the iPod family, and at first I loved the four little touch-sensitive buttons all in a row. But in hindsight the overall user experience with the 2G's perimeter buttons is much better. They seem to be much more "positive-feeling", because they physically click. And it didn't take Apple long to realize that, with their 4G+ "click-wheel" models.

I know I'd like the 4G/5G even better, but I don't have one of those yet. I firmly believe that the 5G iPod w/ video was rushed to market and the next generation 6G will be the one to get. I imagine the screen will be the entire back of the iPod, or it will fold out, or project on a wall, or something cool nobody's even thought about yet. Now that Apple has proven they can make these things impossibly small, perhaps they need to reverse the trend and make the 6G a little bigger in the name of a larger viewing screen.

PS -- The little sliding "lock" switch on my 3G broke, so I can't lock the buttons anymore. So unfortunately it's for table-top use only at this point...
 

whocares

macrumors 65816
Oct 9, 2002
1,494
0
:noitаɔo˩
Prefer my 3G to newer iPods:
*came with all mod cons, including dock, case and power adapter
*comes with FireWire

Sure it has crappy battery life (circa 6 hours) but it's wicked fast and I can boot my Mac from it :cool:
 

Koodauw

macrumors 68040
Nov 17, 2003
3,951
190
Madison
Well I prefer the 5G to any of the previous models. Its about as thick as an iPod Mini, has a very nice, very big screen, and if your just playing music, the batter life is fine. Its so thin is and just has the right weight to it.

I actually disliked the 3G because of the buttons on the top. They would never respond fast enough, and you always wondered weather the push had registered. The click wheel is much better IMO
 

katie ta achoo

Blogger emeritus
May 2, 2005
9,166
5
I looooove my 3G. I don't use her much anymore because I have a shuffle, and her battery is kinda wonky. I LOVE the button layout on her. I'm alllll about the four buttons. My 4G just feels... I dunno, the click wheel makes me nervous.

If I could put a colour screen in a 3G, I'd be ALL over that.
 

Sharewaredemon

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2004
2,014
273
Cape Breton Island
The all white of the 3G is my fav, I also like the touch sensitive buttons more...

Even though the click wheel might be technologically more advanced, I feel that it's so sick to be able to tap the buttons, buttons that light up when you use the backlight!

That having been said, the battery life, and storage capacity (see sig) just weren't cutting it anymore, so I just orderd a new 5G 60GB BLACK iPod.

yay!
 

rosalindavenue

macrumors 6502a
Dec 13, 2003
855
282
Virginia, USA
I'm also a very happy 3G owner-- the backlit buttons are very cool, and the full pack of accessories is great to have. Although I could see having photos; I dont think I would ever use the video player.

I like the thinness of the 5G; however, I dont like the rounded back meeting with the front so that there are no "sides" on it; I also dont like the "sharp" feel of the edges. I have not played with one enough to pick up on the slowness of the interface, although there have been a lot of complaints about it.
 

lonejerk

macrumors newbie
Jan 29, 2006
1
0
Generation 3 Ipod was a classic

Yes I was a Gen 3 onwer till Gen 5 came out. I needed more space and the video is cool. I miss firewire, but ol' well. maybe someone can outfit ipods to use the gen 3 interface instead of the crappy non lighting up gen 5 clicking push button piece of crap that they are banking on to fail! and maybe give me back firewire instead of the Intel crap of USB 2.0!
 

Sharewaredemon

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2004
2,014
273
Cape Breton Island
FadeToBlack said:
Wow, those 3rd Gens do sound cool, with their backlit buttons and all. I've never got to use one before.


Well seeing as your opinion of how something works depends on your previous experience you may not like using a 3G iPod.

I happen to like the sensitivity of the touch wheel in the 3G. I find the click wheel isn't as sensitive as the 3G. So you might think using a 3G that it's too sensitive.

In terms of the touch sensitive buttons, there is something wonderful about tapping where the button is, and not depressing anything, and having the iPod do something.
 

Heb1228

macrumors 68020
Feb 3, 2004
2,217
1
Virginia Beach, VA
I think the iPod Photos were the best. I'm not a fan of the wider form factor of the 5G, I think the older form factor was better but the color screen is several times better than my old B/W 3rd Gen.
 

FadeToBlack

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 27, 2005
1,843
5
Accoville, WV
Sharewaredemon said:
Well seeing as your opinion of how something works depends on your previous experience you may not like using a 3G iPod.

I happen to like the sensitivity of the touch wheel in the 3G. I find the click wheel isn't as sensitive as the 3G. So you might think using a 3G that it's too sensitive.

In terms of the touch sensitive buttons, there is something wonderful about tapping where the button is, and not depressing anything, and having the iPod do something.

Yeah, touch sensitive buttons are really cool. The buttons on my display are touch sensitive. It's like there's not even a button there, but you push it and it works. My friend had a Cube once and he said the buttons were like that, too. Very cool.
 

TDM21

macrumors 6502a
Jul 7, 2004
789
0
Heb1228 said:
I think the iPod Photos were the best. I'm not a fan of the wider form factor of the 5G, I think the older form factor was better but the color screen is several times better than my old B/W 3rd Gen.

The 5G iPods are not wider then the 4G iPods. They didn't bevel the edges on the front so they gained about a quarter of an inch for the new screen. They also made the click-wheel smaller then the 4G and in my opinion feels more cheap. Side by side, the 2 iPods are the same width, but when you look at them separately, the 5G looks a lot wider.

Note: I don't own a 5G, but I got to play around with a friends. they look nice, but the black shows scratches almost at much as the chrome back. I also like how the 30 GB is so much thinner compared to my 40 GB 4G iPod, but i want firewire connectivity more then I want videos. Besides, there is always iPod Linux.
 

Alasta

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2005
176
0
Wellington, New Zealand
There was so much hype back when rumours were circulating about the possible future release of a video capable iPod but, in hindsight, it probably isn't as revolutionary as many people expected.

I'm currently using a 20Gb 4th gen with monochrome display, and I honestly don't feel as if I would gain much by upgrading to a 5th gen. I think I'll wait until the 5th gen and the Nano are superceded, and then weigh up the options. Even then, it's likely that I'll decide to stick with my 4th gen.
 

e²Studios

macrumors 68020
Apr 12, 2005
2,104
5
I love my 3G 15GB iPod. I was able to snag it from Circuit City right before the 20GB 3G was announced for $179.99 by convincing the manager that it was a outdated product :D

I like the greyscale screen as i really dont care to see photos on it or video for that matter. I love the button layout of the 3G, the buttonless 4/5G's just dont appeal to me :D

Ed
 

FadeToBlack

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Apr 27, 2005
1,843
5
Accoville, WV
Ed H said:
I like the greyscale screen as i really dont care to see photos on it or video for that matter.

Yep, same here. I almost never used the photo feature and only watched probably 3 or so video podcasts on my 5th Gen. the whole time I had it. I still watch the podcasts, but I watch them on my Power Mac. It's a lot better watching them on a 17" screen.

Also, the 4th Gen. seems to get better battery life. My 5th Gen. got pretty good battery life, but nowhere near as good as my 2nd Gen. mini and not as good as this 4th Gen. iPod that I have now.

I still haven't tried out Linux on it yet. I may give that a shot sometime.
 

cooknwitha

macrumors 6502a
May 5, 2005
562
0
London
I have a 3G 15GB and while I like it, the battery is pathetic. I've had it for over 2 years and I'm lucky if I get 3 hours out of it now. The battery indicator goes up and down so it's hard to get a reading as to when it really is on low battery. Plus it's full and I need more space.

Anyway, I'm about to move overseas so it's time to buy a new iPod and the 60GB is calling my name. :D
 

~Shard~

macrumors P6
Jun 4, 2003
18,377
48
1123.6536.5321
I'm still partial to my 3G iPod which I bought at the SoHo Store a coming up on 3 years ago. Yeah, it's bigger, not color, etc., but I still like it, and I do like the 4 buttons as opposed to the clickwheel. I had always told myself I would buy a new one once they had video, but I think I'll wait for another rev or so, as the iPod's implementation of video on these first 5Gs leaves a bit to be desired.

But in the end, I only really need my iPod to play music, and it does that just fine, so I have no real reason to upgrade. :cool:
 

Sathos

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2005
113
0
Alberta, Canada
FadeToBlack said:
Also, the 4th Gen. seems to get better battery life. My 5th Gen. got pretty good battery life, but nowhere near as good as my 2nd Gen. mini and not as good as this 4th Gen. iPod that I have now.

Out of curiousity, how long does the 4G battery last? I can get 14 hours of of my 30GB 5G, a bit longer sometimes (I am delighted with this battery life).

I've never had an older iPod, but I definitely prefer my 5G to my brother's mini at least. Though I'll admit, the 4G models look pretty appealing to me, from what I've seen.
 
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