I bought a new iPod Photo. I knew it was only a matter of time before I broke down an upgraded, so I figured now was as good a time as any, given the sale price of the old iPod lines. I ran in the Chancellor's Challenge 5K at school on Friday (26:07, a rather disappointing time, but no big shock, as I'm still rather out of shape), and swung by the bookstore afterwards. Which turned out to be a good idea, as quite a few people were taking advantage of the sale prices, and they only had maybe 12 of the 60 gig iPods in stock (they didn't have the video iPods in stock yet, that I could see). The iPod Minis, at $129, were a particularly popular item.

It took me awhile to get the new iPod set up, but it's working fine now. I'm very happy with my decision. The color screen is a nice touch, and the firmware for the iPod photo is definately improved from that on my old iPod. The clickwheel is more responsive, it seems, and Podcasts are in folders, with the date of each episode clearly displayed (I still wish they would display the oldest podcast first, instead of last, but that's a minor issue). The firmware takes up more space, so that the 60 gig iPod only has about 55 gigs of available space (the firmware on my old iPod was well under 2 gigs). I was somewhat upset by this until I realized the new iPod OS works better. But part of the space is no doubt taken up by the photo technology, which is underwhelming. It's not why I bought the iPod, so it's no big deal, but the photos don't look that hot on the tiny screen. But that just makes me happier I didn't pay extra for a video-capable iPod. I don't think a half-inch larger screen will make the experience of watching videos any more appealing than watching pictures on this iPod. And the video viewing software probably eats up a bit more of the available space. So I think I made the smart move, and hopefully won't have to upgrade again for some time.