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Frank's iPod Nano Review

I have owned an iPod ever since it first came out as a Macintosh-only product. Back then in the mist of times, an iPod held 1000 songs and was the size and weight of a small concrete brick. Still, the thumbwheel was great and being able to carry your whole music collection around with you on said brick was just too cool.

Since then I got a third generation 40Gb iPod (the one with the buttons lined up above the thumbwheel) and I have been using that ever since.

While being generally quite happy with my 3G iPod a few things have been troubling me.

First and foremost on this list was the fact that the buttons at the top, which are of the electronic "just put your finger above me" variety, rather than the proper "push me down" sort, were simply impossible to operate correctly.

Trying to operate the Play/Pause button usually resulted in skipping a track or restarting the track from the beginning; not a real problem with music, but a huge pain if you are, as I am, addicted to Audible's audiobooks. Here losing your place in one of the signature 4-to-6 hour audiobook parts is more than a little annoying.

Recently the batteries also started dying at the least opportune moments. Steps to follow: load iPod all night, put into work bag, arrive at office, put on earphones, press play button, hear hard disk power up, see 90% full charge, witness flashing battery image, hard disk power down, screen off, no charge. Aaargh!

Time for a new iPod

It was thus, time for a new iPod. But which one?

The new "video" iPod looks like great stuff, but is not even available yet. And do I need video? No! I don't. I wouldn't mind getting it for free, but I am not bothered enough about it to shell out any money..

There is of course, the clickwheel which sounds like a good idea, but I haven't used one yet.. The price seems ok, but all in all, it is the exact same thing as my 3G iPod with a few small annoyances ironed out (and perhaps some new ones?). Hmm.. if at least the old one was properly broken!

Foxy nano

The 4 GB iPod nano on the other hand looked really promising.

  1. "Impossibly small"
  2. "Incredibly light"
  3. 20-hour battery life
  4. Clickwheel
  5. Decent price and
  6. yes, incredibly cool.

Where do I put all my stuff?

The only problem of course is what to do with the 28Gb of music and audiobooks that I have already accumulated. I'd need to get seven 4Gb iPod Nanos to fit all this in.

I think this is the main reason why current iPod owners are not running out to get the nano model quite yet. Once Apple got you used to having all your music with you all the time, they go and take it all away again.. (the bastards!)

Anyway, my wife (a proud 20Gb iPod owner and iTunes addict) and I went out to have a look at the nanos because we were both looking for something lighter and more wearable for sports & fun.

In the end we got a "him" (black) and "hers" (white) combo and never looked back (Yes, I know we are sad).

Size matters..

The first thing that strikes you about the iPod nano is exactly how small it is. The form factor is best described as "a bit taller but a lot slimmer than a credit card".

When you first take it into your hand, you are also surprised at how insubstantial it really is. There is none of the typical iPod "how can something so thin be so heavy!" feeling.

You can easily dangle the iPod nano from the headphone wires; it won't fall out, it simply does not weigh enough to pull itself free from the connector! This is of course not a typical "big" iPod problem, as many experienced owners can tell you..

The clickwheel on the other hand is surprisingly solid. It needs a good, firm push to change tracks and the solid state "wheel" part also sports a high grip surface that contrasts with the high polish texture of the rest of the device.

All in all, controlling the iPod Nano with the click wheel is very comfortable and a great improvement over the 3rd generation "big" iPods. Unlike the older iPods you can easily operate the device just by touch and you need not put on the "lock" button every time you put it in your pocket.

The headphones are standard iPod issue, but unlike other iPod designs, they are plugged into the bottom right of the device. This needs some getting used to. In the beginning I kept holding the device upside down, the way I was familiar with. The reason for this unorthodox plug location is of course the optional iPod Nano Lanyard Headphones that should hit shops by the 20th of October.

If you have never heard of this type of headphones, let me show you:

The lanyard design consists basically of wearing your MP3 player on a string around your neck, a bit like a necklace. The headphone cable is built into the string and ear buds are attached to the string at around neck level.

This means that instead of the long cables that are prone to degenerate into cable spaghetti, you are only left with very short connection cables.

I can't wait to try those out. They look like a great idea and have been available on rival Sony players for a while. A shame that Apple couldn't get them into the stores for the iPod Nano launch.

Screen envy?

What about the screen? It's crisp, in color and does a good job showing you what's playing. Having the sub-poststamp album art is nice but hardly a must.

Reports of easily scratched screens cannot be confirmed by this author. Perhaps in time this may happen, but for now it looks as scratch resistant (or not) as any other iPod.

Apple said there was a batch of sub-standard screens which they have replaced. Well, I guess it's "wait and see", but if the worst comes to the worst there is always a warranty that is supposed to be excellent.

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