I have been contemplating with getting myself one during the coming X'mas season, more so since my friend said that we do get a pro-rated year-end bonus in December. The bonus may not be much but it could prove to be sufficient for an investment in an iPod photo. The big question is if the iPod worth it's weight in gold or is it an over-priced toy with strong marketing. So I had a different kind of review for the iPod photo in terms of the features listed at the Apple online store.

iPod Photo 30gb/60gb is priced at S$618/S$788 and it is packed full of features. In this review, I will look into each of the feature and try to come out with a reasonable price for it so at the end of the review I will end up with my own price that I'm willing to pay for the iPod Photo. Your own price will be different however as you may not use the iPod like I will.

Portable Music Device
First and foremost, iPod is a portable music device just like a walkman, discmans, MD players and other flashdrive MP3 player. In addition, it includes the number one game played in the world - solitare and many other side features like calendar, organizer etc. However, I may not be particularly impressed with these side features as you can find them in your handphone too. The accessories provided for this device includes the basic adaptor, USB cable and a set of earphones. The iPod photo can even be connected to your TV for presentation but you need to buy the extra cables yourself. For this basic music player with extra features and basic accessories, I am willing to pay up to S$180 for it, a competitive price compared to discmans and other medias.

Portable Hard Disk
iPod photos come in either 30/60gb harddisk (or 40gb in the first release) and it will come in handy for storing movie clips, presentations and stuff. I know I will need one (portable harddisk) when I work and it makes backing up computers for formating easier. A check of the pricelist in hardwarezone show that a 40gb 2.5" portable harddisk (USB 2.0) listed in Fuwell (18/6/05) goes for S$190 and for the 3.5" version it's S$258 for 120gb listed in Costronic (18/6/05). Judging from the size of the iPod photo it could be the 3.5" harddisk version they are using but nonetheless, I will gladly pay S$150/S$200 for the 30gb/60gb harddisk for the iPod alone.

2" 65,536 Colour LCD with LED backlight
LCD is not cheap, at least for a 65,536 colour LCD. Sucre's handphone LCD went bonkers not long ago and the lady behind the servicing counter said that if you change the LCD without warranty it's going to cost you over S$100, and that's for a 1" 65,536 colour LCD. So for this colour display I can part with maybe S$120, especially since we like photos and this will come in really handy.

Lithium Batteries
iPod utilises lithium batteries and they don't come cheap. A check at the Apple online Store shows that they sell external lithium batteries at over S$100 but I won't be paying anything more than S$50 for an internal one, unless my old one is dead.

Other Perks
1.) 2 Lines free engraving - If you buy from the Apple store, they give you 2 lines laser engraving free. It's cool to be able to personalize my iPod so that no 2 iPods will be exactly the same. I will be willing to pay an extra S$10 for this
2.) Free Delivery - I don't believe in free lunch so my guess is that they factor the delivery costs into the listed price already. S$10 for delivery in Singapore at most.
3.) Integration - One important aspect of buying an iPod over say iRiver or Zen is the availability of accessories and the software integration. The fact that you can buy a car that can be integrated with iPod says a lot. S$10 extra for this.
4.) Easy photo storage - Like I said earlier I like taking photos and when I went for my backpacking trip 2 years back I spend a small fortune on memory sticks for my 2.8MP camera for photo taking. Now with iPod photo they have an additional add-on that can let you download your photos either from your camera (S$98 for USB connector) or from your memory card (S$139 media reader). That means a huge harddisk for storing my photos and I can snap happily. This translates to potentially huge savings on storage media, especially since my other toy in my wishlist is a digital SLR. However, the pricy accessories means I rate only S$30 for this wonderful feature.

Apple
The final consideration is the brand name, it's superior design, aesthetics, marketing and cool factor. It's iPod and it's hot and if I ever got tired of it, I can sell it off 2nd hand at a good price too. This would mean a modifier of +10% to the final price arrived from above.

Final Verdict
S$(180+150+120+50+10+10+10+30)X110%=S$616 For 30gb iPod Photo (Selling S$618)
S$(180+200+120+50+10+10+10+30)X110%=S$671 For 60gb iPod Photo (Selling S$788)

30gb iPod Photo will worth almost every penny if I buy it online but I will feel ripped off to pay S$170 for that extra 30gb storage. Now if only they come out with an iPod that plays video clip too, maybe call it iPod Video, that will make this device even more irresistable.


Tagged: singapore ipod photo