Technology - Don't stamp and squish your old iPods just yet

The idea behind the iSee is quite neat: turn your old 3G or 4G (or mini) clunker into a brand spanking new ViPod-alike, by snapping another gadget onto it (well ok, so what if all it really does is use the iPod as a hard drive).

I really am in two minds about this product, because on the one hand,

• it's got a bigger screen than the ViPod (3.6" vs. 2.5"),
  
• a longer battery life (4 hours vs. 2-3 hours),
  
• it comes with better software (has its own transcoder program) while supporting more formats in the first place (its native format is MPEG4),
  
• you can hook it up to your VCR or cable box and record off the TV,
• if you have an ipod already, it's cheaper to buy the iSee ($250) and a new ViPod ($300 or $400)

but conversely

• it's clearly going to be heavier (5 oz. + iPod vs. 5.5 oz) and bulkier (4.5" x 2.8" x 0.9" vs. 4.1" x 2.4" x 0.55") than the ViPod,
• the Video-In record is completely manual as far as I saw (as opposed to using a PC with a TV guide to record stuff)
• shows/films off Bittorrent probably take just as long to load onto both systems, since in both cases you need to run a conversion
  
• from the documentation, the iSee seems to work badly with iTunes (if at all)
• it looks nowhere as slick as a ViPod
  

Here's a news thing about it.