Apple iPod touch 3rd Generation Black (32 GB) MP3 Player

Our son is 10 and something of a techno-geek.  He is also a really great kid and is great with his younger sisters, makes good grades, and all around makes our life easy ... so it was no huge shocker that we purchased him the iPod Touch that he wanted for his birthday.  We thought it would be something that he would use and that the family could possibly get a lot of use from as well.

Though we have a lot of electronics and such in the house we are not a very techo savy family.  I know what I like, and what we can afford, but we don't need access to phone service and on-line capabilities at the drop of a hat to go as part of our daily life.  Also, as my brother explained the iPod Touch purchase to me, this device was like having an iPhone but without the phone service.  We already had cell phones (and plans) for my husband and I, and didn't feel the 10 year old needed phone capabilities. 

We purchased the iPod Touch 32G.  This was the "middle" priced of the 3 we looked at - the least expensive one not having enough memory and the most expensive one being out of our budget and having more memory than we thought we would need. 

We wanted something more than an iPod as we really want the Applications (Apps) features and the allow-ability to download, store, and play a variety of games. We also wanted the option to use the Internet if needed. This particular product seemed to serve those needs well.

The iPod Touch is a hand held touch screen device.  We've never used a touch screen type before and that was probably the biggest hurdle for the adults (not for the child though).  Touching small buttons (and letters to type) on a flat screen took some practice, but we were quickly getting the hang of it.  Our Touch was purchased with small bud ear phones, 2 skins to cover the Touch (black and white), a USB port charger and a standard plug adapter to allow this device to charge from the computer directly or from an outlet. 

There are many features to the iPod Touch we own.  This player uses iTunes from Apple to download and purchase music.  Knowing this we had family purchase him some Apple store and iTunes gift cards.  They have been easy to load onto an account we set up on-line.  The songs and albums and videos are easy to search for and most single items cost well under $2.00 to purchase.  The Music and Videos are saved into already set up Music and Video sections featured with an easily identifiable icon at the bottom of the main screen.  Our songs save alphabetically and are easy to touch and scroll through.  I've taken the iPod Touch walking with me and it has a feature to reshuffle the songs you are listening to be shaking the iPod - unfortunately I've noticed while walking that some times my movements will cause the Touch to shuffle when I don't want it to! Typically we listen to the music with the headphones, which provides a pretty loud song. There is a small built in speaker on the iPod Touch itself but it's not very loud and doesn't make for great listening. 

There are many free Apps and Games and searching through them is pretty easy.  We've enjoyed a lot of the free games and purchased some of the popular ones for the family to play.  All of the games so far have loaded well and seem appropriate for a small screen. Not something that would take the place of computer or Playstation use, but something to keep you occuppied while you had to be out of the house.  It's become real handy to take the iPod to places like hair appointments and car services.   

You can also use the iPod Touch to surf the Internet.  Since the screen is small we do find there are some limitations though. Though you can use the touch screen and increase the size of what you see some, that also allows you then to only see a small portion of the screen at a time.  We don't look to use the iPod Touch when we are in the house, unless the desktop computer or lap top is unavailable.  Still, it's useful when we are out of the house and need to look up something. The only real limitation (other than size of the screen) is that you have to find locations that have free Wi-Fi ... so occasionally we want to look up things and cannot find easy Internet access. 

We find charging is easy and we typically have to recharge every couple of days.  We have the port to plug directly in to our computer to charge and the hook up is simple.  We also have the wall adapter to allow us to charge as well from any electrical outlet.  The iPod Touch shows a battery filling up to let you know what stage it is in in the charging process. 

Besides not having phone service, there isn't a way to take pictures with the iPod - probably the only feature I can think of that I wished we had.  Since it's so small and portable we take this device a lot of places - and it would be really convienent to be able to use it to take some "in the moment" photos with - this would also make it easy to then load them to the Internet and email in order to quickly share with friends and family. 

I'm pleased with the version that we did purchase and find it a fun device to add into our life. It's been a great help when needing to be outside the house, but not so much useful when we are already home and have other ways to check and listen to the things we love.