Apple iPod (40GB, 4th generation)

Performance of Apple iPod (40GB, 4th generation)

Design: 10 Features: 7 Performance: 8 Perhaps the biggest performance claim by Apple is the improved battery life of up to 12 hours. That's 50 percent--or 4 hours--longer than the previous iPod's. CNET Labs was able to hit nearly 14 hours in its standardized drain procedure. This is a major improvement, thanks to the combination of a larger-capacity battery, upgraded internal electronics, and more efficient power-saving features in the software. Apple wouldn't get specific, but the new iPods boast entirely new chipsets, which is why third-generation models can't utilize the fourth-generation firmware. According to Apple's Web site, the battery charges in about 4 hours (about 80 minutes longer than the last iPod), and after 2 hours, the cell will be at 80 percent. An Apple spokesperson clarified this, saying that recharge time is only 3 hours when using FireWire, though the process over USB will take longer. Our tests split the difference, with a full FireWire charge taking 3.5 hours to complete.

New chipset and all, the iPod's sound quality remains great. Apple won't release the signal-to-noise ratio, but the player sounds quite clean to our ears, and it's better through the dock's line-out jack, which bypasses the device's volume circuitry. It's also more than loud enough, even through our test headphones, outputting 30mW per channel.

Although slightly slower than the previous generation's transfer rate of 6.9MB per second, the new iPod's numbers came in at a brisk 5.2MB per second over FireWire (equivalent to about one song each second) from Macs and Windows machines. At this point, we attribute the slower transfer speed to the iPod's new chipset.