Mossberg reviews iPod touch as ‘A great media player’

Walter S. Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal has reviewed the iPod Touch describing it as ‘A great media player’. "Like earlier iPods, the Touch is elegant and capable, and works smoothly with Apple’s free iTunes software for Windows and Macintosh PCs, as well as with its computer-based online iTunes Store, which sells far more downloaded songs and TV shows than any other legal outlet," Mossberg reports.

"Not only that, but the Touch introduces a mobile version of the iTunes store. It’s called the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and it allows you to buy, right on the iPod, any of six million songs for the same price you’d pay on a computer. This portable store will soon be made available on the iPhone as well."

"For all its beauty and functionality, the Touch has some quirks and downsides. It’s the first iPod model I’ve ever tested that fell significantly short, in my tests, of Apple’s battery-life claims [just under17 hours for music and just over 4 hours for video vs. Apple's claimed up to 22 hours and up to 5 hours]," Mossberg reports.

"In my tests, music and video playback went perfectly, and so did viewing photos. The Wi-Fi functions, including the Web browser, a YouTube video viewer and the new mobile store, also worked perfectly," Mossberg reports.

The most important comments in Mossberg' review is about the iPod Touch display issues that some early iPod touch users have been reporting. Mossberg says, "Also, some early iPod Touch units have had defective screens, where images appeared too dark. Apple says this problem affected a small number of units and is being remedied. My two test units displayed beautiful images."

Apple's new iPod touch "is a great media player, and the iPod remains the best end-to-end portable solution for playing and purchasing music and video," Mossberg reports.

Read the full review here.

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