Is that why you're posting so much?

You don't really care about informing us of the new bonus policy do you?

Nah, just have some down time now that I'm leaving the sanbox soon.

The reward for me is answering Soldiers and family members questions.

OK, I can't change my vote but ....

Got my 30GB video iPod from ArmyStudyGuide.com a couple days ago so I thought I'd tell everyone what I thought about it.

First, I never win contests, ever. This makes it exceptionaly cool for me because this is a major prize. This site is the coolest. Not only for the contest but because it's the best place for proffesional soldiers to share ideas and get answers.

Things I like about my new iPod:

• It's easy to use
  The interface is intuitive. Once I got songs and videos upload (see things I dislike) I had no trouble finding my playlists, finding songs, selecting music by genre, artist, or album. There are features I haven't used yet but I'm sure I'll give it a try.
  
• It's tiny
  This thing is about the size of a deck of cards. I was expecting something more along the lines of those old style Game Boys.
  
• The hard drive is huge
  30GB is more than I have on half of my home computers. I have a significant music collection, something like 5000 songs. A significant number (maybe 1500 or so) are uber quality and about 4 times the size of a normal mp3. I can have all of this on the iPod and still have plenty of room for video and other files.
  
• It uses a standard headphone jack
  My cell phone MP3 player requires a special adapter if I wanted to hook up headphones or a stereo. This means I can hook it up anywhere without any trouble.
  
• It charges when it's connected to a computer's USB port
  (also see things I dislike)
  
• Battery life is pretty good
  I had it hooked up in my office yesterday. It played the entire duty day nonstop and without repeating a song (could have it playing for days if the power didn't run out)
  

Ok, now the things I dislike about it

• iTunes
  I don't like this program. Editing the playlists slows my computer significantly. The interface is confusing for a PC user (maybe Macs are better). I eventually figured it out but I had to learn more that I really wanted to to use an MP3 player.
  
  It is my understanding that other programs can upload to iPods. Perhaps they are better; I may try one of them later.
  
• It is very picky about video formats.
  It took me several attempts and a little research to find out that my iPod wouldn't take videos that iTunes told me were ok. Eventually I learned that i had to convert my videos (all of them because iPod supports none of the formats I have....including the quicktime videos I have [still haven't figured out that one]) with a seperate program. Fortunately there was one that is freeware. Still: time required to convert videos, extra hard drive space (I have plenty but it can slow the machine), loss in video quality and the audio dubbing can be shifted.
  
  Not a big deal, but something I would like them to improve upon.
  
• It only charges through USB or Firewire
  If you want to plug it into your car or house outlet, you need a usb adapter. These are not as common as other car or wall wart voltage adapter.
  
• No Firewire data transfer
  It took me about 4 hours to upload 2000 songs. It would have been significantly faster over firewire. They do make a firewire cable for it but it is only for charging purposes. You'd think that the makers of firewire might to integrate it into more things. Oh well, my computer wasn't doing anything while I was sleeping anyway.
  
• It will not play music uploaded as data
  This is to prevent file sharing I assume. If put songs on it like I would on a USB drive the iPod will not play them. In order to copy playable music from your iPod you need 3rd party software. I know Apple isn't going to change this, so I'll just deal with it.
  
• Had a bit of trouble with the USB disk function
  I first tried to put some files on it. Half of the files became corrupted, many of them just disapeared. Haven't had a problem with anything I loaded as playable media. Perhaps I just did something wrong.
  

Overall: It's a fun new toy and I'm rather pleased with it. Thanks ASG!

if you have your ipod set as a usb disk you have to go to the bottom right and click on the remove hardware icon or when you pull it out it will corrupt your files

That's a possibility. I have 4 jump drives and nothing bad ever happens to them so I might not have done it properly. Bad habit, perfect excuse to stop.

Added to my like list: Video output cables to plug into my TV are fairly common and plug right into the headphone jack. It uses the same type of cable as my camcorder.

Glad ya like it. I am just happy it did not break during shipping.

too bad that the first winner is in Basic / AIT right now or I would know what she thought of it.

Putting DVD movies on my video iPod:
Step 1: Rip, takes about 30 minutes
Step 2: convert to MPEG4, takes about an hour
Step 3: Load video to iTunes, 3 minutes
Step 4: Load from iTunes to iPod, only 2 minutes???

Step 5: Hook up iPod to TV.... 20 seconds

How much space does a DVD take?

With the software I'm using, the movies are compressed to about 500 MB. A standard dual layer DVD is about 8 GB. I have significant loss in quality but the movies are still watchable on a TV. When playing on the iPod's screen, I don't even notice.

Well my iPod broke about a month and a half ago. I called Apple, they sent me a box. I got around to sending it tuesday, and today I've learned that they fixed it and are sending it back.

So I have 2 points here:
1. I'm not really confident in the durability of the machine. I would not bring it to the field.

2. Apple has really good customer service. They were extremely helpful on the phone. The guy I talked to tried very hard to get it replaced without me having to use up my one time free repair. They did the entire repair service for me free of charge; shipping, tech support, and the service itself. On the down side, if it happens again, it's something like $100 for all their services.

Do I own a iPod?

Yes, I own a 60GB iPod. There isn't any videos on it right now, but I'll try to load some this weekend.

iPOD no 60 Gig Creative Zen...yes!
I just don't like the way the iPod has the scroller, and I like the software that comes with Creative Zen.

I have a 60GB ipod video and I love it. The video is so clear. I was truly amazed when I first watched something on it.

And Apple has great customer support.

Also, DW, think about getting an Otterbox for taking it out in the field. My husband used that the entire time he was in Iraq and his ipod came back perfectly fine.

I do have an MP3 player but I refuse to buy an ipod!