As always, Apple Computer's charismatic CEO Steve Jobs caused quite a stir last week when he introduced his latest product at a big media event -- in this case, a sleek new full-sized iPod that, for the first time, can play video as well as music.
We tested nearly every aspect of the gadget -- which works on both Windows and Macintosh computers, with Apple's iTunes software and its iTunes Music Store -- starting with its familiar music functions.
Our verdict is that this new iPod is an excellent music player.
Plus, it's a surprisingly decent video player, with crisp, smooth vivid playback of TV shows, music videos, short films, video podcasts and home videos.
Still, the 2�-inch screen is smaller than on most other portable video players, and it's much smaller than the screens on the most frequently used mobile video viewers -- laptops and portable DVD players.
In our tests, it rapidly transferred numerous songs from both a Windows and Macintosh computer, and played them back with great fidelity.
To test the video, we downloaded two episodes of "Desperate Housewives" from the iTunes Store, including the one that ran this past Sunday night.
Each download took a bit over 20 minutes using an average DSL connection.
Your experience may vary, depending on the speed of your connection.
We also downloaded a short film, Pixar's "Boundin'," and were surprised that it took more than five minutes to retrieve -- longer than the film itself.
And we also downloaded from iTunes a free video podcast called "Rocketboom," featuring a woman reading a homemade newscast.
This video format and conversion problem is a mess that will hold back the video iPod unless Apple fixes it by incorporating free, reliable, and easy video conversion in iTunes.