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 April 1, 2008 Adopting Apple’s iPhone and Shure’s SE210 Earphones
A few weeks after the iPhone’s launch, in late June 2007, I was visited by a friend -- an IT guy who knows just about everything there is to know about computers and the Internet. Whenever I have a question about anything computer-related, I call him. In the past, he’s advised me to purchase a Macintosh instead of sticking with the Windows-based PC I’m used to, but because I’m so familiar with Windows, I’ve been unwilling to switch. This time, he suggested something that surprised me: He told me I needed to get an iPhone. After watching a promo video on Apple’s website, I learned that the iPhone was much more than a mere cell phone with iPod interface. Of course, there were problems. First, an 8GB iPhone cost $600. Second, there were rumors that the iPhone was still too new to be considered trustworthy. But I’m an early adopter by nature, and in less than an hour, an iPhone was in my possession. Third, to activate my new iPhone, I had to download iTunes to my computer. If you already have iTunes -- the same user interface required for the iPod -- you’ll need to download an update to iTunes 7.5 to enable the program to work with the iPhone. And fourth, there are as yet few products that the iPhone will work with, including most iPod charging cables. I tried a clock radio that works with most iPods, but each time I connected the phone to the radio, the iPhone warned me that "this product is not compatible with the iPhone," and that I would receive interference if I didn’t put the iPhone in Airplane Mode, which disengages the Apple’s cell-phone circuits. This wouldn’t work for me, because the iPhone is my only phone.
None of this stopped me. My iPhone activated, I was ready to experience all the alleged benefits of Apple’s "revolutionary" cell phone. The sleek iPhone is less than a half-inch thick, but 4.5" long by 2.4" wide. One of the best things about it is that its 3.5"-diagonal screen takes up almost all of its largest surface. The touch-sensitive screen is used for almost all iPhone functions. The only hard buttons are: Home (on the bottom front); a couple of buttons on the side for manually adjusting the volume; just above them, a switch for setting the phone’s ringer to On or Vibrate; and, at the top, a button that, when held down, begins the process of shutting down the iPhone. A 3.5mm headphone jack at the top can be used with the supplied headphones, which look the same as iPod ’phones but include a small microphone on the cord that can be used for phone conversations. (The iPhone’s other features can be read about on Apple’s website; in this review, I discuss only the iPhone’s iPod functions.) The iPhone’s user interface is awesome. I pressed the Music button on the touchscreen, then rotated the phone so that the side was parallel to the ground. This activates the iPhone’s Cover Flow function, which makes visible the album-cover art of each CD downloaded. Touching a fingertip to the screen, then sliding that finger to the left or right, scrolls you through an entire CD collection. When you find the album you’re looking for, just tap the image on the screen to access that album’s songs. Because I’d never owned an iPod, I was unfamiliar with the audio formats that are compatible with the iPhone. These are AAC, Protected AAC, MP3, MP3 VBR, Audible 1, 2, and 3, Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV. I first used AAC to rip my CDs to iTunes, but the music didn’t sound good at all. Being the audiophile I claim to be, and because up till now I’d resisted buying any product that lossily compresses music to maximize the number of songs it can store, I erased all AAC files from iTunes and then tried WAV. However, with only 8GB of storage available on my iPhone for music, movies, and pictures, using WAV for CD-quality sound was not a good idea. WAV would give me the sound quality lacking from AAC, but I’d be able to download only ten or so albums to my iPhone -- enough for some, but not for me. To cut down on file size and maintain sound quality, I went with Apple Lossless, which cuts the file size in half by removing unneeded digital information from the CD signal, but doesn’t affect the quality of the sound. This way, I was able to fit 25 albums on my iPhone. Storing my music on a small portable device without having to sacrifice sound quality has made me a believer -- my overall experience with the iPhone has been so positive that I’ve since bought two iPods as well. I now enjoy my records in the car and in the gym in a way that has renewed my love for music. Before, I mainly listened to music on my hi-fi system. Now I listen everywhere. Not only that, the ease with which I can now make phone calls, access e-mail, and surf the Net via WiFi or AT&T’s Edge Network, is exceptional. Since the iPhone was released, its prices have fallen, and I received a $100 credit to the Apple store for being an early adopter. And there’s now a 16GB version that can hold even more music. The Apple iPhone is, without a doubt, the best electronic addition I’ve made to my day-to-day life in the last year. ...Randall Smith
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I’m a gadget guy.
I’m not sure why, but I always want to own the next cool electronic gizmo. Even so,
the Apple iPod, introduced in October 2001, never interested me. Maybe it was the extreme
data compression needed to fit thousands of songs onto the little dynamo, but for some
reason, I never owned or even tried an iPod. So when, at the 2007 Consumer Electronics
Show, Apple unveiled the iPhone, I remained unaffected. I just assumed it was a glorified
iPod -- more of what I’d already decided I didn’t need or want.
While the earphones included with the Apple iPhone
are decent, I wanted to make sure I was getting the most from my music, so I contacted
Shure concerning their earphones. They quickly shipped me a pair of 