I've had my PowerBook G4 and my iPod for over a week now and I've decided to put down my impressions of each
- I was disappointed in the backlit keyboard on the PowerBook at first. At some point I figured out that the F9 and F10 keys are the brightness controls for that feature and have now adjusted the brightness of the keyboard backlight to my satisfaction and it is everything that I thought it would be. Cool.
- The iPod detects headphone plug-in and unplug events. This allows it to turn on when you plug the headphones in. Even better, if the headphones get unplugged while a song is playing the music is put on pause. You literally don't have to miss a beat.
- I got a free digital subscription to MacWorld Magazine. This uses the (already installed) Zinio reader software which has really cool page turning effects. Much more elaborate than Acrobat Reader, but also much more proprietary.
- I was able to get the MySQL and Firebird databases installed on MacOS X. My database professor at school recommends Interbase, so Firebird is the closest thing I can come to a reliable substitute. Not bad since Firebird is based upon the Interbase source.
- The iPod sounds good
- The iPod looks good
- Everybody says: "Ooooooh, an iPod."
- Migrating from Linux to MacOS X is simple. SSH and tar make life easy in this area
- I feel like I'm cool now.
