iPod 5G Vs. 6G

Storage Capacity

The most notable change concerned the iPod's storage capacity, measured in gigabytes. When the iPod 5G debuted in October 2005, it was available in 30GB and 60GB versions. A revision in September 2006 replaced the 60GB with an 80GB iPod 5G. Apple manufactured 80GB and 160GB iPods with the debut of the iPod 6G in September 2007. The company eliminated both and brought in the 120GB as the sole iPod 6G choice in September 2008; it was produced until exactly a year later, when Apple debuted the 160GB iPod 7G.

The 30GB iPod 5G can play back audio for up to 14 hours and video for two hours when the built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery is fully charged. The rating for the 60GB is even longer: audio playback of 20 hours and video playback of three hours. With the 2006 revision, the video playback on the 30GB increased to 3 1/2 hours of video playback, while the 80GB offers 20-hour audio playback and 6 1/2 hours of video playback. The audio and video playback for the 80GB and 160GB increased to 30 and five hours, and 40 and seven hours, respectively. The 120GB iPod G6 tops them all with 36 hours and six hours of audio and video playback, respectively.

Regarding digital content capacity, the 30GB iPod 5G can hold up to 7,500 songs and 25,000 photos, while the 60GB version has the same photo capacity but doubles the song storage number to 15,000. The 80GB version increases the song capacity to 20,000. When the iPod 6G 160GB arrived, it doubled the capacity of the 80GB to 40,000 songs. With the 120GB version of the 6G, song storage reduced to 30,000 songs.

Throughout its production run, Apple Inc. manufactured the iPod 5G to sync with at least the 10.3.9 version of its Mac OS X Panther operating system on its Macintosh computers. The Windows equivalent is the Windows 2000 operating system. The iPod 6G is compatible with at least the 10.4.8 version of the Mac OS X Tiger on Mac computers and Windows XP on Windows-based PCs.