It's been quite some time since anyone has mentioned or talked about the Apple 5G iPod. Today, however, the 5G iPod returns to the limelight when it gets to upgrade its firmware to version 1.3. According to Apple, this version will update and supersede all previous versions.
As expected, this latest and much awaited update contains the usual and inevitable "bug fixes". But that's about all the information released by Apple about the 6.6 meg update so far. No further details were posted on the Apple website and no new iPod firmware 1.3 features have been released.
The iPod firmware 1.3 for 5th-generation iPods can now be accessed through the Update option in iTunes. If you own a 5th generation iPod, chances are you will see a message that will remind you to upgrade your software when you connect it to iTunes. The upgrade iPod software, however, cannot be found on Apple's website as of this writing.
Those who were able to upgrade early haven't noticed any significant or visible changes in their iPod software. Other iPod users weren't so lucky. They noticed glitches and crashes in their devices and quickly downgraded to restore their devices to the more stable 1.2 version.
There were those, however, who have noticed some welcome changes in their iPod firmware 1.3 upgrade.
- Older generation of iPods lacked world time zones. The Ipod firmware 1.3 upgrade added time zones of the whole world in the Settings menu which is a welcome improvement.
- In the sorting of iPod songs, albums and artists, symbols like the parenthesis are ignored automatically. This makes scrolling through huge lists easier as it no longer classifies them as numerical figures.
- Some noticed that all iPod music titles starting with the word "The" are arranged alphabetically now according to the following word in the title.
- The menus have become a bit more responsive.
A lot of other iPod users agree that the new iPod firmware 1.3 features probably include minor fixes to several newer iTune options like iPod movie rentals, in preparation for movie rentals from all parts of the planet in some future time. This is the most obvious fix that many iPod users noticed. They all agreed to post in forums if they happened to notice any more new changes brought about by the firmware upgrade.
A lot of iPod users have also expressed their irritation about the casual way Apple treats its consumers. Their software development team came up with a rather lame and dull iPod firmware upgrade for the 5th generation iPods that includes certain bug fixes. The iPod firmware 1.3 upgrade is only available through iTunes but still has to show up in Apple's download pages.
Yes, Apple has indeed released its firmware upgrade version 1.3 for older Windows iPod with claims of improved user interface and a longer battery life. On the other hand, the much requested and highly expected on-the-fly playlist feature is noticeably lacking.
It is also widely known that there is an ongoing petition all over the Internet requesting for new firmware updates for older generations of iPods. Isn't it a pity that owners of older iPods will make good with outdated technology when a newer firmware upgrade can be in use?