The killer app of the digital music revolution leapfrogs the pack by inviting your camera to the party. This 40-gig Gear of the Year champ easily organizes and pumps out 10,000 songs—or up to 25,000 photos, which you can spin through about as quickly as you can shuffle a deck of cards.
1. The lightning-fast 220-by-176-pixel LCD display renders your digital photos in 65,536 brilliant colors. View splashy album-cover art when playing a tune or set some shots to music before plugging into your plasma TV for a very 2005 slide show.
2. Apple’s iTunes Music Store—accessed via free OS X and Windows software—offers an impressive music catalog. Albums typically run $10, while single tracks go for 99 cents a click. Jam out to iTunes exclusives from the likes of U2, plus celebrity playlists.
3. No other player offers so many cool accessories. To wit: A media reader will transfer photos directly from your digital camera’s memory card to your iPod, FM transmitters will pipe your tunes through your car stereo, and a voice recorder will archive memos, interviews, and lectures.
4. Store contacts, reminders, and text files on the iPod’s calendar and scheduler, compatible with Microsoft Outlook and Apple’s iCal. An alarm gets you to your meeting on time, and a sleep timer lets you doze off to the Shins without sucking your battery dry.
5. Stuck in Layover Land? Apple stocks its iPods with diversions aplenty. Play solitaire, Parachute, Brick, and other vintage video games. Then test your knowledge of your own music library via Music Quiz, Apple’s equivalent of Name That Tune.