So.. I received my iPod Touch today.
It was pre-ordered mid September through the Apple website, with a customization on the back. Announced to be available on the 28th. Shipped and received within two days – not bad. Nevermind the fact that the Touch was already available in stores at the same time the Apple site was listing it as ‘pre-order’.
The packaging was as usual simple and beautifully designed. Maybe too simple. The only option provided out of the box to protect your iPod Touch is a small piece of cloth to wipe the screen from the inevitable fingerprints and greasy marks that will eventually accumulate on its beautiful glass surface. Cases are unfortunately now available yet… maybe in a few weeks.
Speaking of ‘out of the box’, the instructions simply state that you only have to plug your ipod on a USB port and get started initializing it. Not so fast.
Following these instructions left me with a blank screen and an unresponsive ipod within a few minutes. Restoring it on a PC just timed out. Trying on a Powerbook G4 (with USB2.0) resulted in an ‘unkown error 1604’. the iPod Touch support site didn’t have much references to this error.
A visit to the nearest Apple store was not very helpful. After checking that error message was reproducible on one of their docks, the only option I was left with was to go back home and arrange to return my unit to Apple through their website. You see – if I had bought it from the store, they could have replaced it immediately. Apparently, this is not possible for units ordered online.
I guess this is what you get when Geniuses run out of appointment slots.
On a hunch, I bought a wall adapter to make sure the ipod was fully charged before trying again. Charging it on a USB or Firewire port didn’t take me very far… but as it turned out, the wall charger worked like a charm.
After 5 hours or so, and a fully charged unit, I could finally complete the initialization process without error. Well… almost. The ipod crashed twice during the initial synchronization with iTunes. From what I read on the iPod Touch user forum, the latest update of the ipod software (v1.1.1) introduced a few issues, including problems with missing cover art, incompatibility with iPhoto events and freezing synchronizations.
So… after spending the better part of a day getting set up, was it worth the trouble ?
Oh yes… the interface is as glorious as the previews and ads suggested it would be. Wireless connection works like a charm. Cover flow is beautifully fluid.
It may well be the best ipod yet … once you get it to work.