Apple iPod Photo 60GB [M9586]

• Apple iPod - 30GB - Black [video playback] MA146B/A
• Apple iPod 20GB [MA079B/A]

Firstly, looks. The 2.0in (diagonal) screen is absolutely gorgeous, very sharp and clear, and I think it's fine for viewing photos on as well. The smooth casing with the clickwheel (what an invention!) looks great as well, and the product, while being thicker than ever before, still has an undeniable cool factor.

The storage space is amazing, and I don't know anyone who would ever need more than this. Its fab being able to play any song that I own at any time, and you'd be surprised how much my iPod comes into my social life now. One of the other thngs I love about this is the fact that you can use it as an external drive, to store files on, which means there is no need to buy a seperate memory stick if you're prepared to carry around the connector cable.

OK, bad points. Firstly, everyone says that it scratches easily, but to be honest, I haven't found that at all, mine still looks pristine. I'm not really sure why, as I keep it in my bag with all my other stuff for day-to-day use. Secondly, it is obviously expensive, and it might be hard to justify buying it. However, if you compare it to other players on the market, it is actually pretty good value for the price of each gigobyte.

Overall I think this is the best player on the market if you need more than 4GB of storage space

Let me start off my review with a confession. Since picking my iPod up the other day I haven't seen my family, or indeed daylight, for days. No Christmas TV repeats for me! The capacity on the 60GB model is quite simply HUGE - plenty of room for your entire music collection as well as, and here's where the new iPod is a delight, all your photos in suberb quality. There's room for thousands!!!

No need to get technical here - just read the technical blurb instead. All you need to know is this thing's a monster.

Feel like hooking your iPod up to the TV to show your friends/family/strangers your holiday snaps with an accompanying soundtrack? No problem for this little fella. And the battery life is less of a problem than on previous models.

And what's more it looks great when I'm showing it off to jealous people!

Go on, what are you waiting for. BUY ONE!!!!

Apple really does make the coolest gear around. This is so so so much better than any other MP3 players out there and it work so so well with iTunes.

Perfect. Go out and buy the iPod Photo.

That I can also cram in heavens knows how many photos (the ad says 25,000) is a real bonus. Mind you, who on earth wants to lug around, let alone look at that many holiday snaps? Once set-up, the slideshow function works well when connected to a TV, although watching it on the iPod is a little odd, as you get a row of three pictures in thumbnails. The one just gone is very small, the one you're looking at is somewhat larger and back to the small size for the upcoming photo. None of these sizes are designed for viewing your photos in comfort. If, however, you just use it to cruise through your photo library, just like whizzing through all your music, track by track, the thing really gets a move on. You can select your own music to accompany your slideshow, which adds a nice touch for family and friends. I could see the combination of these features as being useful to unattended portable business presentations too.

The dial is now much more positive, with a distinct click to the touch when selecting one of the main functional areas. A neat feature in this model, which I hadn't noticed in previous versions, is that the track being played pauses when the external source (headphones or hi-fi) is disconnected.

There are a couple of negatives, but they are far outweighed by the slick functionality and smooth styling of this bit of kit. You must have a Mac or PC to properly arrange and import your photos, so the plethora of iPod devices which allow you to store photos on previous iPods, although they will still work, won't present your photos in a viewable format on the iPod. Then there are those earbud headphones! They might be a fashion statement, but apart from the discomfort, any man with hairy ears (everyone over 35, then) will find them unusable. OK, the iPod works so well, that having to go out and buy real headphones isn't that much of a hassle that it's likely to take the smile off your face, especially when you consider that you own the best of the current series of iPods.