Postby プチクレア » January 9th, 2008 7:41 pm
I have classic Ipods, an Ipod Touch and an Iphone.
Wether you should get an ITouch really depends on what you want to do, and your environment :
- If you just want to listent to the lessons, watch the videos, read the notes but use the learning center at home, then get a classic Ipod; the Itouch doesn't have a "note" function, and thus it won't display any lyrics (or the Ilearning either), and the screen on the newest classic Ipods is big enough for sporadic video viewing in my opinion
- If you want a really on-the-go experience, that is, surfing the web, using the learning center, posting comments etc while you're away from home, you should go for the ITouch or Iphone. Lessons both audio and video work, it displays the pdfs (at least the newer ones; the pdfs that I checked and that did not display kanas or kanjis are at more than a year old; the grammar will work though, so you can always use the lesson transcripts in the learning center), and you can use the questions in the learning center too. Zooming in and out is very easy. I haven't checked the line-by-line audio. What's more, the ITouch has a very nice Japanese IME, which the Iphone still doesn't have (come on, Apple !).
BUT, you should remember that all those nifty features work on a WIFI network. If you don't have easy access to one, or only has access to paying WIFI, you might find yourself with a nice ITouch but no way to use it on the go, or you might end up paying quite a lot for it. I bought mine last october in the Shibuya Apple Store, mostly because I had left my computer in Paris and didn't have easy access to the internet; but as there isn't as many WIFI hotspots in Tokyo as in Paris, I really started using it when I came back to France.
Now I have an Iphone, which does all the same features (MINUS THE IME....) but can access the internet wherever I am even if there isn't any WIFI hotspot. I use it to listen to Jpod and Epod during my lunch break, to answer mails, to check my MIXI account.. but if there is a hotspot, I switch to the Itouch which is faster, and lets me write in Japanese.
As for how big an Ipod you should get, when you are accessing the podcast through WIFI you're not actually downloading them onto the Itouch (it doesn't donwload podcasts "for keeps"), so technically you can fill it with your music other than podcasts, and still have access to all the lessons on the Jpod site. I bought a 16Go, because I have lots of music and videos, and I thought my 8Go nano too small.
Hope this helps ....
