Apple iPod 40GB with Click Wheel - 4th Generation [M9268B/A]

In fact, the new fourth-generation iPod includes features that make it even easier to access -- and have fun with -- your music. Take, for example, the Apple Click Wheel. With the Click Wheel, you can select playlists, scroll through a long list of albums or artists and choose just the song you want to hear without ever lifting your thumb from the wheel. Feel like mixing things up? Now you can choose "Shuffle Songs" right from the main iPod menu. We think you'll also enjoy iPod's long battery life -- up to 12 hours. And with the 25 minutes of skip protection iPod provides, you can jump for joy and the music will keep playing.

A Click in the Right Direction Though ease of use has always been the hallmark of iPod, we believe in constantly moving perfection forward. So iPod now incorporates the same touch-sensitive Apple Click Wheel that debuted on iPod mini. Without lifting that trusty thumb of yours from the wheel, you can easily select playlists, scroll through thousands of songs, and start the music playing. Want that song to play from the beginning again? A single click will do the trick. Do the iPod Shuffle You can put the Apple Click Wheel to use the next time you want to set your music to shuffle. Right there on the main menu - where it's very easy to find - you'll find a new option - Shuffle Songs. Everyone's favourite option for mixing things up, Shuffle Songs randomly plays songs in a selected playlist or your entire music collection. You'll never guess what's coming up next, so you're always surprised by startling juxtapositions - like a melodic Coldplay song setting up an aria by Caballé. Play Your Music for Hours... and Hours And you can shuffle your way through a lot of songs now that iPod lets you play your music for up to 12 hours on a single battery charge (2). Just imagine: you could fly from New York to Paris and still have hours of listening time left over as you stroll the Champs Elysées. While you're on the move, iPod keeps you aware of its charge level, and when it's time, iPod's quick to recharge. Plug it into your computer or a handy wall socket (via the included power adaptor), and you can fast-charge iPod in as little as 2 hours.

Music and More
But, guess what -- iPod lets you do more than listen to music. Much more. iPod provides you with up to 40 GB of storage. True, you're likely to use a good portion of that storage capacity for your music and audio books, but you're bound to have a little space left over. You can use the FireWire or USB 2.0 cable that comes with iPod to connect the iPod to your computer and copy files. Word documents. Keynote presentations. Excel spreadsheets. Photoshop files. You name it.

Apple's fourth-generation iPod features song shuffling from the main menu, as well as Calendar, Games, and Alarm functionality.

Where am I at 2 p.m. Tuesday? If you've ever forgotten a dental appointment, you'll be pleased to hear that iPod also lets you take your calendar with you. Many applications -- iCal, Microsoft Entourage and Palm Desktop, to name a few -- export calendar files in vCalendar or iCalender formats, both of which iPod supports. Sorry, Wrong Number Little black address books are so last millennium. Thanks to its support for industry-standard vCard files, iPod lets you store and access all your important contact information -- names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses -- with the spin of a Click Wheel. Play Games You know what they say about all work and no play. Navigate to Extras and you'll find Games: Music Quiz, Solitaire, Brick and Parachute, four popular games you can play anywhere (like when you're waiting for the movie to start at the multiplex). Store Text Notes You've got playlists. You've got To-do Lists. And you can carry both with you on iPod. iPod's Notes Reader lets you take text-based information such as news downloaded off the web, stock tips, your workout regimen, restaurant reviews, directions, your shopping list with you on your travels. Just transfer it via FireWire or USB 2.0 to iPod from your computer (Mac or PC).

A Music Store at Your Fingertips
The perfect companion to iPod, iTunes lets you easily build and manage your digital music collection. Since the iTunes Music Store is built right in, you can browse through hundreds of thousands of songs and audiobooks until you find just what you're looking for. Jazz, Reggae, Pop, Electronica, Hip Hop - the iTunes Music Store has it all. And it's open 24/7. All year long. In the US, UK, France and Germany. On both the Mac and Windows PCs.

As for all of those CDs you already own, iTunes makes it easy to quickly transfer your favourite songs and albums. Just pop a CD into your Mac or PC, and click the Import button. You can import music in a variety of formats (such as MP3 or AAC) and at whatever quality level you'd prefer. You can even choose the new Apple Lossless encoder. Music encoded with that option offers sound quality indistinguishable from the original CDs at about half the file size of the original. And with FireWire and USB 2.0 support, you can transfer the music from an entire CD to iPod in just 5 seconds or less.

1. Based on using 128Kbps AAC format.
2. Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. Battery life and the number of charge cycles vary by use and settings.